The battle between the EU and the UK continues with the subject of visa-free tours for musicians. On January 9th, the UK supposedly turned down the decision for 90-day visas for traveling musicians. Meanwhile, the United States and Saudi Arabia hold this agreement with the EU.
It is customary for these visas to be 90 days, however, the UK is supposedly asking for it to be 30 days instead. This is to limit the travel for EU musicians and control immigration through the UK. As a result, anyone hoping to tour the UK needs to apply for a visa that allows them to stay longer than 30 days. They also need to show proof of savings and a sponsorship certificate from an event organizer. The downside to this is that it would drastically curtail touring.
Therefore, this puts musicians at the same level of travel as non-EU citizens. In this devastating time of COVID-19, the live events sector has taken a huge hit. How can they financially recover from this? Will artists be able to as well? With this debacle, it seems that it may either be a slow comeback or a difficult one.
In the midst of all the commotion, the UK government actually released a statement expressing that the is incorrect and misleading from anonymous EU sources.
“The UK pushed for a more ambitious agreement with the EU on the temporary movement of business travellers. [This] would have covered musicians and others, but our proposals were rejected by the EU.”
Spokesperson from the UK
Some say Brussels rejected the idea, not the UK. But in response, some say the UK still refused to agree because they want to end the freedom of movement. Industry figures are calling on the government to give full details about what is what.
So, who said what and what is right? The petition for this negotiation is already backed by Biffy Clyro, Dua Lipa, Foals, Nadine Shah, and more With over 200,000 signatures, we’ll follow this more and see where it goes. Let’s hope this doesn’t affect our favorite musicians touring our country!
