A UK visa for leading poets? It's a thing
Nick Nason, solicitor at Edgewater Legal, regularly provides advice to clients applying under the Global Talent immigration route. Below, Nick explains how poets might qualify.
If you have been acknowledged as an exceptionally talented poet, or one who demonstrates exceptional promise, you may be eligible to apply for a UK visa.
To qualify, you must have been professionally engaged in performing and/or publishing outstanding poetry in at least 2 countries within the last 5 years, or show a developing track record in one country if you are at an early stage in your career.
Visa outline
The Global Talent visa allows you to live and work in the UK for up to 5 years. It also serves as a pathway to settlement and, subsequently, British citizenship.
To apply for the visa, you must first obtain an endorsement from Arts Council England. This involves completing an online form and providing supporting evidence to demonstrate that you meet the criteria.
Once you receive the endorsement from Arts Council England, you can proceed with the visa application.
If you are endorsed under the Exceptional Talent route, you may be entitled to apply for accelerated settlement after 3 years. If you are at an early stage in your career – endorsed with Exceptional Promise – you will usually be eligible after 5 years.
The main criteria
To demonstrate that you meet the criteria, you will need three dated letters of recommendation. Two of these letters should come from well-established organisations that you have worked with, acknowledged as experts within literature (specifically poetry), at least one of which is based in the UK.
The third letter must also be from another leading organisation within the field of poetry, or alternatively an individual you have worked with, with recognised experience in the field.
Unless you are at an early stage of your career and seeking endorsement of Exceptional Promise, you will also need to evidence two of the following three criteria:
- Two or more examples significant media recognition (either individually or contribution to a group) from at least two countries
- Winning, or significantly contributing to winning, at least one international award for excellence
- Evidence of professional appearances, performances, publications or exhibitions considered internationally significant within the field, or evidence of extensive international distribution and sales for your work as an individual or as a named member of a group or as a contributor
If you are an early stage of your career, the bar is set slightly lower, but you still need to show that you meet two out of the following
- Two examples of recent media recognition for your work, either as an individual, or as a named member of a group or as a contributor
- Winning, or significantly contributing to winning, or significantly contributing to being nominated or shortlisted for, or being nominated or shortlisted for, at least one international award for excellence
- Evidence of professional appearances, performances, publications or exhibitions recognised in literature, or evidence of international distribution and sales for their work as an individual, as a named member of a group or as a contributor.
You must also provide your CV detailing your career to date.
What is significant media recognition?
The evidence should typically consist of detailed independent critiques, reviews or critical evaluations of your individual work by credible arts and culture critics in internationally recognised and well-established media outlets, from at least two countries.
Acceptable forms of evidence include recognised media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio or websites. For applicants in the Exceptional Talent category (i.e. not at an early stage of your career), blogs and social media are not acceptable sources of evidence.
For those applying under Exceptional Promise, blogs may be acceptable if written by credible arts and culture critics, and blogs should be prominent, well-established and feature a significant number of reviews.
Media recognition must have been received within the last five years preceding the application date and must pertain to work which took place at the time of the article’s publication.
Arts Council England provides further guidance on what constitutes ‘significant media recognition’, and you should review this before applying.
What counts as an international award?
The award win (or nomination if applying under Exceptional Promise) should demonstrate significant recognition of your status as a leader (or emerging leader) within the field of poetry. The award must have been granted in the last 5 years. There is no specific list of qualifying awards.
If you have not received (or been nominated for) an award as an individual, you can, instead, provide evidence that you made a significant contribution to an award win/nomination by another individual or group you worked with.
In addition, you must include a supporting document from the individual that won (or was nominated), or from a senior person that had responsibility for the group that won, and which details the significant contribution you made to the work that won the award.
What can be provided as proof of publication and/or distribution?
If your work is performance based (for example, spoken word poetry), evidence can include programmes, adverts, posters, or listings for events in which you took part.
You can include videos or photographs but they must always be accompanied by supporting information that verifies your participation, and when and where the engagement took place. Videos or photographs alone are not acceptable.
If your work is not performance based, evidence can include distribution data related to your work. If you provide such data, it must include a breakdown of countries in which your work has been sold within the last five years, along with the number of sales in each country.
The endorsing body will consider whether the sales are sufficient to demonstrate a substantial track record and demand for your work, as a leader in your field.
Further information as to the kind of evidence that can be provided are set out in the Arts Council England guidance.
If you are looking for further information or assistance regarding this visa then please do not hesitate to contact us at Edgewater Legal.