Visa Disappointment for WOMAD Festival

You may have seen headlines along the following lines recently:

BRITAIN IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS? NOT FOR AFRICAN ARTISTS COMING TO WOMAD

ENTERING BREXIT BRITAIN FOR WOMAN FESTIVAL IS "SO DIFFICULT AND HUMILIATING" THAT PERFORMERS ARE GIVING UP SAYS ORGANISER

'DIFFICULTY' ENTERING UK FOR FOREIGN WOMAD PERFORMERS

"Artists have accepted our invitation and then looked into the visa process and told us, sorry we’re just not going to do this. That’s a situation we should be ashamed of," says Chris Smith, festival director at WOMAD.

Being a company that specialises in performer visas, we were disappointed that we only read about this in the news after WOMAD festival. We could have done a lot to assist.

The following statement in response comes from our founder and managing director, Andy Corrigan:

"Coming to the UK to perform has always been a problem for artists from those countries that need visas to enter.
The UK visa application process presents a big hurdle which is not helped by the UK government’s lack of clarity on requirements.
This is made worse by the absence of any policy regarding what may happen after the UK leaves the EU.
It would be good if the UK overhauled and rationalised its system for admission of musicians and other performing artists and actively encouraged performers from all over the world to appear here to the cultural and economic benefit of all."