Muldoon Britton were recently successful in obtaining endorsement from Arts Council England on behalf of our client, who is applying for a Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa. Our client, a world-renowned jazz musician, instructed us to assist her in obtaining the highly competitive visa.

Applicants for this visa under the Arts route require three letters of support, which are set out below:

1. The first letter must be from a UK based arts or cultural organisation, institution or company which is well-established nationally and/or internationally and widely acknowledged as possessing expertise in its field.
2. The second letter must be from another arts or cultural organisation, institution or company which is well-established nationally and/or internationally and widely acknowledged as possessing expertise in its field. This second organisation may be UK or overseas based.
3. The third letter may be either from a third arts or cultural organisation, institution or company (UK or overseas based) which is well-established nationally and/or internationally and widely acknowledged as possessing expertise in its field or from an eminent individual with internationally recognised expertise in your specialist field.

In addition to the above, evidenced is required from two or more of the following:

1. Examples of significant media recognition such as features, articles and/or reviews from national publications or broadcasting companies in at least two countries. Event listings or advertisements are not acceptable. Media recognition must provide a critique of your work.

2. Proof of having won international awards for excellence, for example the Booker Prize, a Grammy Award; or domestic awards in another country. By ‘awards’ Arts Council England mean awards of merit, rather than monetary awards such as grants or bursaries, which are not applicable.

3. Proof of appearances, performances, publications or exhibitions in the past five years in contexts which are recognised as internationally significant in your field or evidence of extensive international distribution and audiences for your work. (There is no exhaustive list of appropriate recognised contexts. Arts Council England will judge whether such appearances, performances, exhibitions or distribution provide appropriate evidence of international significance in your field.) Proof must come from at least two countries, one of which can be your country of residence.

Our client has had a remarkable career to date, and had so many articles, reviews, and features of her work that it was nearly impossible to narrow down what to send to Arts Council England. Eventually, we finalised the bundle that was to be sent to the council for consideration and wrote a detailed cover letter in support of our client’s application. We received confirmation from UK Visas and Immigration that our client had been successful in her application in less than 4 weeks from the date of submission.

Applicants have 3 months to apply for the visa once endorsement has been received, and the visa can be valid for up to a period of 5 years and 4 months if applied for from outside the UK.