A visa meant for talented artists can, it seems, be bought as a package. The BBC found a London consultancy willing to sell the whole shebang: the paintings, the exhibitions, the reviews. An undercover reporter asked for the price. It was nearly £100,000.
The Global Talent visa was created in 2020. It was designed for people judged to be exceptionally talented or promising in science, research, culture, and the arts. Applicants submit evidence and need an endorsement from an approved body, which for artists usually means Arts Council England. Successful applicants may bring relatives and may qualify for permanent residence after three or five years. The route has grown rapidly. About 6,600 visas were granted in 2025, and arts and culture applications nearly doubled between 2023 and 2025.
The BBC looked at iCareer Consultancy UK, based in Canary Wharf. Its sister company, ADArt Global Ltd, is registered to give immigration advice and works from the same building. A reporter posing as a Chinese client met a consultant who called himself Peter. He told her English was not needed. Nor, it seemed, was a career in art. Peter described a full service. The work could be made in China, where it cost less. She could have up to 15 pieces, including paintings, sculpture, photography, and digital work, shipped to Britain for about £1,120. After that, the firm could arrange exhibitions and publicity, and supply written criticism. Records could be shaped, so she looked as if she had been working for years.
The fee was 880,000 yuan, roughly £98,000, paid in three stages, with VAT added if she paid in sterling. The process would take at least two years. For about £28,000 more, he offered to help her win a Forbes China award, with the money returned if she lost. Forbes told the BBC the awards are genuine and that ADArt is a sponsor. Its China editorial team runs the judging alongside professional judges.
Peter said four clients had received visas this year and around ten were waiting. Nobody on the top package had been turned down, he claimed. When the reporter asked what happened if the application failed, he said it could not.
The immigration lawyer Harjap Singh Bhangal reviewed the evidence. He called it sophisticated fraud. In his reading, the aim was to persuade both the Home Office and the endorsing body that the client was a genuine artist. The contract, he said, was effectively one to break the law.
Peter stayed on the company website and on LinkedIn until the BBC made contact, which the firm called an oversight. It described ADArt as a business that signs artists and helps them curate exhibitions. Yet the meeting took place in the group’s own offices. He handed over a brochure and a contract with a company email address.
A second problem concerned press coverage. Applicants must show recognition, including recent articles about their work. That is hard for someone with no career to point to.
The BBC found evidence that two Nigerian men, Silva Ndifon and Adanu Emmanuel Okoko, obtained visas as fine art photographers using forged documents. Reviews of their work had appeared in the Nigerian Tribune under the name of the critic Molara Wood. She never wrote them. She thought the prose poor and the photographs unworthy of the praise attributed to her. Other critics, she says, have found their names on pieces they did not write.
The Tribune removed the articles after her complaint. It blamed a staff member who uploaded them without permission. That person said an outsider had supplied the text, but denied being paid.
The two men’s trails are thin. One has an online portfolio that does not match the work described in the reviews. The other has almost no visible link to art. Neither replied to the BBC. Both are thought to be in Britain. After the BBC contacted the Home Office, their visas are being revoked.
A woman from India who applied through the technology side of the route told the BBC her adviser invented a mentoring award and a speaking engagement. Her visa was refused.
The Home Office called the findings extremely serious. It said the company behind the £100,000 package is already under investigation and that it will not tolerate attempts to cheat the system. It added that the route is under review. Arts Council England said it investigates evidence that looks misleading or fraudulent.