So, it's that time of the year again. 

The latest stats on how many applied and were un/successful are in. This time I have obtained the nationality breakdown as well as the art field breakdown which should hopefully give you a better understanding of how the 'Artist Visa' has grown in popularity in the recent years (and why the additional 1,000 allocation  - albeit available for all 5 Designated Competent Bodies, not just to the Arts Council - could actually be useful for artists). These stats take us only up to April 2018. Of course, future stats from April 2018 onwards will be requested and shared with you in due course 

First, how many have applied and how many were successful: 

As we saw last year, there was a sudden surge of applicants under this route in 2016. It may be that this route was a bit more widely promoted by the likes of moi (*smug hair-flick*) or is a coincidence. Whatever is the case, I find that a lot more people are now aware of this route than ever before. This is the reason for the slightly lower success rate in percentage (%) but if you look at the sheer number of applicants who apply and eventually succeed, you can be sure that more people are applying and are succeeding than before. 

Second, from which countries do the applicants come from? 

So, Americans form the majority of applicants, circling above 30s-40s. 2017 appears to have been somewhat of a climax in all aspects of the stats under this route in that we saw double the no. of American applying that year and this probably accounted for the increase in the number of applicants across all art disciplines as well. 

Most English-speaking and Commonwealth countries (Australia, Canada, NZ) appear to produce the next highest average number of applicants between 11 - 25 across the four years (2015 - 2018), with Asian countries trailing a bit behind these. 

Of the Asian countries, South Korea appears to be in the lead though, having produced an average of just under 10 applicants each year between 2015 - 2018 while Japan has produced just under half of that number. 

N.B. I haven't included the figures for dual-nationals here though. But they form a very small number in any case. 

Third, in which art disciplines were the applications received?

So, of those who applied in each year, we can see that Music still makes up the majority of applicants. 

Finally, some news regarding which area of arts will be covered.

You might have already seen from my recent post "Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Update: Here come the Fashion!" that the previously excluded discipline of Fashion Design is now included and Fashion Designers of world-leading talent may be assessed for a visa by British Fashion Council (which sits under Arts Council England for the purpose of Tier 1 endorsement). 

I have not seen many but there is another category called 'combined arts' - lovely and vague. Arts Council's own guide on its website appears to define it as follows 'Festivals and carnival arts describe a range of activities that come under our combined arts discipline’ which includes music, dance, visual and live performance arts, theatre, literature and other combined arts. My question to them was to clarify whether 'combined arts' as an art discipline is only assessed in the context of a festival/ carnival, or whether can the same Tier 1 criteria be used to assess an individual artist who may engage in as many arts areas (e.g. literature & Dance, jewellery design & illustrations) as well?

Here is their answer:

"Combined Arts covers many areas of artistic practise:
 
Traditionally, Combined Arts does refer to festivals, carnivals, multi disciplinary events, large outdoor events, parades etc  
 
If a Tier 1 applicant is involved in delivering/has worked within any of the above areas they would be considered as a Combined Arts practitioner. However, a Tier 1 applicant who worked within a number of areas of artistic practise, such as literature, theatre and music could be considered as a Combined Arts (multi disciplinary) practitioner but we would expect that they plan to gain entry to the UK to work specifically and equally in each of these areas. 
 
Ideally, applicants who work in various single areas of artistic practise should identify their main specialism that they wish to work within in the UK, rather than Combined Arts however, when we receive an application we can liaise with the applicant via UKVI to determine the most appropriate artform to select for applicants if we are unsure." 

Now, this last sentence (in bold) of their response is pretty significant I think. It sounds as though the Arts Council will discuss and if necessary allocate an appropriate art-area for an application where the relevant art area is not so clear cut! 

That's all folks! Until next year! 

If you want to test out your credential and have a got at applying for a Tier 1 endorsement, feel free to contact me for consultation. 

 Click this link to access my presentation:

https://prezi.com/view/77IaC6i1RIygOCMuxVWe/

And some additional materials for EEA nationals at Brexit: 

Policy Paper with Statement of Intent published today

UKVI News Story

The long wait is finally over for you fashion bods. The most recent of the regular Home Office statement of changes to the Immigration Rules, announced from today JUNE 2018 (HC 1154) brings the welcome news. 

Those of you who are following my blog here on Tier 1 Exceptional Talent, you might remember my post from last year (March 2017, Tier 1 Artist Visa - Is my art covered?) which lists the areas of art that the Arts Council England is prepared to assess for the purpose of UKVI's Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Endorsement. The message from the Arts Council to date (including the most recent response I received from them at the end of May 2018) has been that most areas of fashion design are expressly NOT INCLUDED to be assessed. This has turned away many a saddened - but incredibly talented - fashion designers from attempting Tier 1 Exceptional Talent while their visual arts peers triumphed. BUT NO MORE! THE OPPORTUNITY for fashion designers is NOW WIDE OPEN folks!

Just to explain the changes, Appendix L of the Immigration Rules houses the relevant part of the rules on Tier 1 Exceptional Talent/ Promise which, following the change, should now say this: 

"5. The applicant must either: 

(a) be established (if applying under the Exceptional Talent criteria) as, or demonstrate potential (if applying under the Exceptional Promise criteria) to become, a leading artist or an internationally recognised expert within the fields of arts and culture, encompassing dance, music, theatre, combined arts, literature and visual arts (including museums and galleries), as assessed by Arts Council England; or

(b) be established as a leading artist or an internationally-recognised expert within the film, television, animation, post-production and visual effects industry, as assessed by the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT); or

(c) be established (if applying under the Exceptional Talent criteria) as, or demonstrate potential (if applying under the Exception Promise criteria) to become, an internationally recognised expert in their field within the fashion industry through the operation of leading designer fashion businesses (encompassing relevant technical), as assessed by the British Fashion Council.”

So, this means that in terms of allocation of endorsement places, Arts Council will still be the umbrella endorsement body for both PACT and the British Fashion Council and they will hold min. 250 allocations for each year (to be used by Arts Council, PACT, and the British Fashion Council), plus a further number if Arts Council (or PACT or BFC) runs out of its allocation. (N.B. Just beware that at the time of writing, the policy guidance on Tier 1 exceptional talent v. 1/2018 and Appendix L have yet to be updated with the new changes but we should see an updated policy guidance and to the rules in the coming days).

You might guess from my overall tone, I am SUPER excited to share this with you and I would totally encourage those with a good track record of international exposure, vision, and eminent referees to start preparing your first application! Of course, I am here to help you through the preparation and the ultimate application - just get in touch. I will always be excited to hear from you! It couldn't have come at a better time to coincide with the release of the documentary, 'McQueen' I feel. Almost poetic. 

Tier 5 YMS 워홀러에서 Tier 2 General (취업비자)로 전형하는 방법!

YMS 워홀러 여러분, 열심히 살고 계시죠 ^^

저에게 이메일 문의 보내주신 분들께 먼저 제가 모두 다 답 해 드리지 못해서 죄송합니다. 최근에 페북에 올라온 글 또한 같은 질문들이 좀 있어서 아래에 한번에 정리해 올려봅니다.

아래 Infographic 을 굵게 정리해 보면 이렇습니다:

1. 우선 Tier 5 YMS 에서 취업비자로 전형하기 위해서는 Tier 2 licensed sponsor 가 필요하고,
2. Tier 2 licensed sponsor 를 신청해서 얻기 위해서는 영국내 구인광고 (Resident Labour Market Test) 를 거쳐야 합니다. 여기에 다 설명하기에는 아주 복잡한 규율이지만 최소한 2곳에 광고를 해야 하고 최소 28일 동안 광고해야 하며 정확한 Job Description 과 적당한 연봉을 offer 해야 합니다. 여기서 적당한 연봉이란 최소한 £30,000 이고, 직종에 따라서 더 높을 수 있습니다.
3. 또 중요한 것은 Tier 2 sponsor licence 를 이미 보유 하고 있는 회사라도 워홀러가 Tier 2 로 전형 하는 경우 채용 결정 이전에 위에 2번과 마찬가지로 영국내 구인광고를 RUN해야만 employment offer 가 가능합니다.
4. 영국내 구인광고 (Resident Labour Market Test) 가 무사히 (?) 끝나면 스폰서 회사에서는 정식으로 Job Offer를 줄수 있습니다. 
5. 그 다음 스폰서 회사가 홈오피스에 신청을 해서 restricted certificate of sponsorship (RCOS) allocation 을 받아야지만 워홀러 당신에게 발급 (assign) 해 줄수 있습니다. 스폰서 회사는 RCOS를 받기 위해서 매달 한번 열리는 신청기간에 allocaiton 신청을 해야 하고, 만약 한번에 성공하지 못하면 그 다음 달에 재신청이 가능합니다.
6. 회사가 RCoS 를 받으면 워홀러에게 발급 (assign) 해 줄수 있습니다.
7. 워홀러는 RCoS 를 발급 받으면 바로 한국에서 부터 Tier 2 General Migrant 비자 신청이 가능합니다. (물론 RCoS allocation 신청 및 발급 받는 동안에 한국에 계셔도 상관은 없지요).

여기서 중요한 점은 위에 1 - 5번까지는 모두 가 회사의 몫 입니다. 워홀러가 할수 있거나 해야 할 역활이 아닌거죠. 또한 스폰서 절차 중에서 변호사의 도움이 필요한 부분도 바로 1 - 5번 부분인데, 이 업무를 위해서는 역시 워홀러가 아닌 해당 회사가 변호사를 고용 해야 하겠습니다.

이후 한국에서 Tier 2 General 비자 신청을 하실때에도 워홀러 스스로가 개인적인 상황에 따라서 변호사의 도움을 받으시는 것이 필요할 수도 있겠습니다.

아래 infographic 도 첨부 했으니 한번 보세요. 도움 되시기 바랍니다.

참고로 아래 infographic 에 나온 다양한 홈 오피스 신청 비용은 자주 바뀔수 있으니 홈 오피스 웹싸이트를 늘 확인 하셔야 합니다.

How to pick the GOOD out of the Bad and the UGLY and HOW to get the most out of each of them

1. Who are you talking to and how experienced are they? Qualification of a regulated professional should be easily confirmed. This blog post is focused on solicitors (Solicitors Regulations Authority) so to check whether the person who claims to be a Solicitor is currently qualified to practice, go to the Law Society Website; Find A Solicitor. Individual solicitors and their law firms can be found. For barrister, go to the directory for the Bar Council Directory and for OISC advisers. A good thing about using a legal service marketplace like LawXero is that we aim to work with only the regulated professionals who can be verified in the public domain. So any fee quote you receive from us will have been checked initially. Questions like 'have you done many of these cases before' won’t tell you much.

2. Avoid those who 'guarantee' a result. That one should ring BIG ALARM BELLS inside your head and here’s why: Most of what we do as lawyers is to assist you to present your case to a decision maker be it the court, local council's licensing panel, the Home Office or the HMRC (Tax authorities). Lawyers are not the decision makers ourselves. It is precisely for this reason that we cannot - and should not - guarantee the success of any process you are attempting. We can guarantee that we will give it 100% of our utmost skill and care but a guarantee anything beyond this is likely to be a meaningless fib, quite frankly.

3. Avoid those who give you % rate on the success of their previous cases. It’s never a good measure of competence. After all, someone who has done 1 case with success could claim 100% success rate. You see where I am going with this?

4. Do double check your lawyer's availability at the outset - ask for a clear timescale of when the work is expected to begin and end. Lawyers almost always have several cases on the go and we manage these in the order of priority. If your lawyer is anything like me, she might prefer this timetabling exercise just so that she could organise yours and others’ cases in order to carve out time to give your case sufficient attention.

5. Know what (or for whom) you are paying. Is it a fixed fee or hourly chargeable? If the work is chargeable hourly, who else besides your main lawyer will be working on your case? A junior solicitor? Paralegal? Trainee solicitors? What is their rate and how experienced are they? Do you even want trainees, juniors on your case? (If not, can you afford to have only the senior lawyer on the case?)

6. How much should you be paying? This is a difficult one as there is no clear 'market rate' for lawyer's work. Plus, some works are completely unpredictable in terms of complexity, length, and depth of involvement so a pre-case tariff can’t be given. The profession is catching up with the market demands though and it has been suggested that law firms must publish their prices - a la carte. But generally, a good tip is not to fall for the cheapest sounding offer, unless it comes with some plausible reasons for the discount (e.g. lawyer with limited experience is branching out to a new area of practice? Trainee or a Junior to primarily handle the case under supervision? Carefully manage the frequency of contact with your lawyer- that’s right, the more often you contact us, the higher your bill will be!). Lawyers usually charge by the hour. Even fixed fees are calculated by reference to our hourly rates - we just decide to fix them in certain cases if we think we could take the risk of the work running over. Lawyer marketplace platforms such as LawXero can deliver directly to your Inbox fixed fee quotes from several lawyers which will give you an idea of how much you should budget before any work begins. LawXero is not a bidding or barter system and our lawyers are treated fairly when they are asked to give a quote. Unlike other lawyer marketplace business models, we don't exist to undercut the lawyers on their fees by encouraging competition between them. This means that our lawyers are happy with any client they receive and remain competent by being able to focus on their craft without being distracted by money talks.

7. Pay on time, every time. I know it sounds a bit like a snake oil salesman but there is no way to avoid this topic. Let's face it; it’s a service like any other and it must be paid for. Law firms are not a charity. Okays clients often forget this part but unless the money drops, lawyers can’t take responsibility for any work, let alone advice, that you might later rely on. In practice, unless money is paid (whether for a fixed fee or money on account of hourly chargeable budget), the lawyer can’t start on your work. But what about those lawyers who are - let’s just say - less than scrupulous? So there are some crooks who are just after your money. Sure. But in majority of the cases, no lawyer goes through 3 years of undergraduate, a year of intensive law school, endure through countless rejections from training contract applications, while amassing a debt the size of which is on par with an SME's annual income, only to come out the other end a seasoned crook. In fact, most starry-eyed lawyers will recount the first moment they decided to get in to law that involves some incident of prejudice and injustice and wanting to help people (or even worse, trying to make the world a better place!). Most lawyers don't want to haggle on price. The traditionalist in us think it vulgar, time-consuming, and most of all, we just want to get on with what we do best - start working on your case! Time spent on talking about fees will not be charged but you might lose out in other ways as it eats into the lawyer’s availability for more important works that they could be doing in your case. You don't want to go down in the file history as 'that client' who never pays bills on time without challenging each item twice.

8. Along with prompt payment, get the basic ID documents ready. Especially if you are in a 'hurry' to get some help, nothing 'activates' a lawyer fastest than giving them the following:

a. Copy of Passport (or Driving licence, anything with your photo ID on it);
b. Utility Bill, bank statement, or council tax statement with your name and address on it (from
the last 3 months and not any older); and
c. Payment for the job (whether it's the whole of agreed fixed fee or initial fee). 

In fact, a lawyer in possession of these three things will not be able to refuse to start working.

9. Don’t be 'that' client who nit-picks spelling mistakes in the lawyer's informal email. Don't call your lawyer every day (unless, of course, this is necessary and is arranged between you). Lawyers typically divide their time into time for doing legal work (you know, the work you are paying them to do), admin (talking about money, opening client files), and business development (attend networking or devise a brilliant marketing strategy to bring in more clients, more work). Anything outside of the time for doing legal work is not chargeable to clients but it does eat into the time that the lawyer has to spend in your case. And it might give the lawyer a bad impression of you as a client.

10. Be nice to your lawyer. Give him/ her plenty of confidence and praise when things go well. After all, one of the legitimate reasons to break off your retainer with your lawyer is where the client has lost trust in the lawyer's advice or professional competence. We are professionals but we are not robots - no matter how 'Rainman' some of us might come across. We have feelings. We like to do well and we like it even better if clients recognise the hard work for all its worth. And you know what? We want to do even better! To make you happy! After all, what we provide is an utterly personal service and because Individual lawyers are regulated by the Solicitors Regulations Authority as well as the law firms we work for, much like Vidal Sassoon (of the hairdressing fame from the 80s), "if you don't look good; we don't look good". If we are lavished with your trust, your lawyer is most likely to go that extra mile beyond just the contractual obligations in order to help you.
 

Eunyoung Cho
Co-Founder of LawXero & Immigration Specialist Solicitor-Advocate 

See Original Post at LawXero. 

Hear ye, hear ye,

The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Endorsement allocation will double! (scream!)

Currently, the 5 Designated Competent Bodies get the following number of endorsement allocations:  

• Arts Council England - 250
• The British Academy - 250
• The Royal Society - 150
• The Royal Academy of Engineering - 150
• Tech City UK - 200 

A total of 1,000 allocation is due to be doubled to 2,000, and to be spread across the 5 DCBs above - hopefully in the same proportions but Tech City UK is likely to sweep up most as the move is to accommodate and promote the growth of tech companies and business in general in the UK. 

Good news, right? Well yes and ... 'meh'.

Ever since the scheme started in 2011, the quotas shown above have never been exceeded. See the stats here. Plus, the standard of evidence of experience and public recognition of your work as a specialist in any of the areas is so - deliberately - high, this category really isn't for any reasonable talent. As it says on the box, 'world leaders' or those with the potential to become world leaders' in their chosen field. Only a track record of producing consistently outstanding work or prescribed experiences (e.g. for Tech City UK, a track record of taking a tech company through to IPO,  etc.) or taking an internationally well-known research fellowship (e.g. Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation etc.) will suffice. 

Added to this, the increasing number of applicants seems to be attracting more (and therefore new) judging panel members for each body who do not know how to apply the body's and the UKVI's criteria, some of whom giving incredibly subjective reasons to refuse to recognise the international merit of excellence of an applicant, or refusing for want of some further evidence not previously required by the body's criteria, all make the prospect of success difficult to foresee. 

Given the increasing 'difficulties' (some which should be addressed for improvements), and the consistently low subscription rate of applicants, increasing the number of allocation in this category, even in the light of Brexit promises (and expected Tech City applicants), seems to afford very little 'real' advantage to prospective applicants. Though announcements like this certainly make the Home Office appear to be espousing the idea that Britain is open to highly skilled migrants... 

See the Home Office's announcement page here.