Global Talent visa for artists and creative workers
The Global Talent Visa is available for artists, creative practitioners and cultural workers to live and work in the UK and benefit from and contribute to UK cultural life. There are two routes available, which cater for different levels of experience. Exceptional Talent is for people who are already established as leaders in their field and Exceptional Promise is for people who have the potential to become leaders in their field. Exceptional Promise is not available in the Film and Television category.
The immigration rules, Home Office guidance and the endorsing bodies websites should always be your primary source when preparing the applications. In our article we outline the stages in the process and the key requirements for the Global Talent visa for artists and creative workers.
Global Talent visa – stages in the process
Applying for a Global Talent Visa is a two-stage process. Stage 1 assesses your skills, abilities and achievements and enables us to decide whether you should be endorsed in order to progress your application. Your stage 1 application for endorsement is submitted online via the Gov.UK website. If you are granted an endorsement you must then apply for Global Talent leave to enter or remain. This is stage 2 of the process, which is undertaken solely by the UKVI and assesses immigration matters only.
You should be aware that applicants who hold one of the prestigious prizes listed in the Appendix Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes are eligible to apply for a Global Talent visa without the need to obtain an endorsement (i.e. without the stage 1). These prizes have been identified by the relevant Global Talent endorsing bodies as demonstrating exceptional talent.
The applicant must be a named recipient of the prize and the prize issued by the relevant body must not have been withdrawn or suspended. For more details about assessing eligibility for prestigious prizes see: Appendix Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes.
The Arts Council England – endorsing bodies for arts and creative
For an Arts Council England (ACE) application, the requirements differ depending on which body will assess the application. This will be either ACE, the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT), the British Fashion Council (BFC) or the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The application form will indicate which sub-endorser will consider the application.
Global Talent – evidence for the endorsement stage
All applicants must provide no more than three letters of support, along with no more than 10 pieces of supporting evidence.
At least one of the three letters must be from a UK based organisation and only one of the three letters can be from an individual. The letters from organisations must be from separate organisations.
In addition to the three letters of support you must provide no more than 10 pieces of evidence in at least two of the following categories:
• Media Recognition
• International Awards
• Proof of appearances, publications, exhibitions or distribution of your work Your evidence cannot include objects such as DVDs, CDs, digital files, books or publications or documents that only show web links. If you wish to use the content of a webpage as one of your pieces of evidence, you must provide a printed copy of the page which clearly shows the uniform resource locator (URL) for the page.
The requirements you must meet in these areas are slightly different depending on whether you are applying under Exceptional Talent or Promise criteria. The Exceptional Talent has slightly more demanding criteria as you should already be a leader in your field. For the Exceptional Promise you should be an emerging leader.
Global Talent visa – artists and creative – documents for each endorsing body
The Global Talent endorsing bodies have specific requirements as to the documents they want to see for the endorsement application. We summarise the main ones in the below, separately for each endorsing body.
ACE applicants must provide:
• a CV
• 3 letters of endorsement that demonstrate their work as an individual or named member of a group:
o one must be from a UK based arts and cultural organisation, institution or company
o one must be from an arts and cultural organisation, institution or company, which may or may not be UK based
o one must be from either a third arts and culture organisation (based either in the UK or overseas) or from an eminent individual with recognised expertise in the applicant’s specialist field
• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form)
PACT applicants must provide:
• 3 letters of endorsement as described above for ACE applicants, from organisations or individuals in the film and television industry
• evidence of each award they were nominated for or won, including: o full details of the production nomination or award, including category and year of nomination or award o evidence of the applicant’s involvement if the nomination or award was as part of a group o evidence of the credit the applicant received for the nomination or award o if the applicant is claiming credit for an award where they made a significant and direct contribution, evidence of their significant and direct contribution to the win or nomination
• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form)
BFC applicants must provide:
• 3 letters of endorsement from established organisations, institutions or companies with a national or international reputation and recognised expertise in fashion: o if applying under Exceptional Talent criteria, at least one of these letters must be from a UK organisation
• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form)
RIBA applicants must provide:
• 3 letters of endorsement as described above for ACE applicants, from organisations or individuals in the architecture industry
• evidence of each award they were nominated for or won, including:
o full details of the nomination or award, including category and year of nomination or award
o evidence of the applicant’s involvement if the nomination or award was as part of a group o evidence of the credit the applicant received for the nomination or award
o if the applicant is claiming credit for an award where they made a significant and direct contribution, evidence of their significant and direct contribution to the win or nomination
• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form).
