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Immigration Rules Appendix L: Tier1 Exceptional Talent (HC2642) 16 Dec 2019

So, Christmas 2019 is upon us already🎊🎉. (Where HAS the time gone?!😱⌛️🗓).Well, before we close 2019, I just wanted to give a summary of (not all but) some of the more exciting updates to Tier 1 Exceptional Talent that came about this year.

This is a round-up of what I consider to be the most interesting Tier 1 Exceptional Talent updates for ALL categories: Artists, Writers, Musicians, Dancers, Academics, Scientists, Engineers, Tech Start Ups, et al.

1. HC1779, Statement of Change dated 11 Dec 2018 was inserted into the Immigration Rules from 10 Jan 2019: Tier 1 Exceptional Talent/ Promise now includes British a Fashion Council and The Royal Institute of British Architecture as endorsing bodies. See my previous post ”Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Update: Here come the Fashion!”

2. Yes, also Architects were beginning to be endorsed from early on this year. As the discipline only just opened up there aren't that many takers - at the time of writing, I am (anecdotally) aware of two candidates who were endorsed since the category opened up? You may know more. In any case, I will share the full stats early next year, or as soon as I can get them.

3. HC1919, Statement of Change dated 7 March 2019 was inserted into the Immigration Rules from 1 April 2019: Perhaps THE most interesting change is this - The definition of a Media Recognition evidence for Exceptional Talent endorsements from Arts Council England, (under which sit -for the purpose endorsement - British Fashion Council, the Royal Institute of British Architects) has been ’relaxed’ to include media recognition pieces which do not name the applicant directly, as long as the applicant can produce a letter from the group project lead or someone similar confirming their “direct and significant” contribution in the project. (At this point, some dramatic tears 😭😭😭 shed for some of you who may have been rejected or didn’t even get up to applying because of the high threshold for media recognition pre-April 2019!)

4. HC2631, Statement of Change dated 9 September 2019 was inserted into the Immigration Rules from 1 October 2019: For Tech Nation applicants, three (not two) recommendation letters are required. For academics in research for endorsement under the Royal Society, British Academy, RAEng, National Institute for Health Research is added to the list of peer-reviewed fellowships (for acceleration), and those who have held such a fellowship in the last 12 months may also quality!
   

Of course there are many other ’minor.’ changes to the rules, but these are the changes that seemed the most exciting.

Good luck to all those currently applying. Don't forget the allocation for all endorsing bodies renews in April each year, and their usage is split between April - October and November - April. I would imagine that this thus far little known category will now see a surge of applicants 📈 and increased competition means some strategic planning and preparation will be required along with genuine talent in your field.

If any of these ’expansions’ ’relaxation’ of the rules mean the door to endorsement is now open to you, and you would like assistance putting together your application, get in touch! 💻⌨️

For a few years, I have been looking for ways to sort of reach out to many - all at once - to answer some FAQs about Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa. After much procrastinating, I am going to try out YouTube Live Stream for the first time - the emphasis on ‘the first time’.

First things first, Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa explained, live, on Wednesday 7 July 2019 at 7:30 pm GMT on my YouTube Channel. Go there, and watch me :) Post questions. Take notes. whatever. See you on Wednesday!

Go to Solicitor Cho on YouTube

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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