Entertainer Visitors

The following are key features:

• Six month maximum period of stay;

• Entry clearance requirement for visa nationals only;

• Availability of multiple entry visas for between 6 months and 10 years;

• Provision for amateur and professional entertainers and their entourages (e.g. press officers, dieticians) to take part in certain events;

• Retention for the present of the permit-free festivals approach, with removal of two criteria;

• Provision for officials (e.g. producers, stage assistants) attending the same event as the entertainers to enter via this route;

• A need to satisfy standard requirements including financial support without recourse to public funds, intention to leave at the end of the visit and ability to meet costs of return/onward journey.

There is no longer a requirement that a festival must make a significant contribution to cultural life in the UK in order to be included in the permit-free festivals list.  There is also a reduction from 5 to 3 years as the period for which a festival must have been operating before it can be considered to be included in the permit-free festivals list.  Finally, Sikh religious entertainers are removed from the concession. They will now be required to enter the UK under the religious worker sub-category of Tier 5 of the Points Based System.