Winners of awards such as Nobel Prizes, the Turing Award, Oscars and Golden Globes from anywhere in the world will be able to live and work in the UK more easily under visa reforms being introduced by the UK government.
Under the changes announced by the UK Home Office, individuals who have won prestigious awards from across the sciences, humanities, engineering, the arts and digital technology will be able to take advantage of changes to the Global Talent visa route. The new fast-track version of the route would allow such applicants to speed up their endorsement and application process.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Winners of these awards have reached the pinnacle of their career and they have so much to offer the UK. These important changes will give them the freedom to come and work in our world leading arts, sciences, music, and film industries as we build back better.
“This is exactly what our new point-based immigration system was designed for – attracting the best and brightest based on the skills and talent they have, not where they’ve come from.”
The Global Talent route is part of the new UK's post-Brexit points-based immigration system, which applies to nationals from around the world as the European Union (EU) freedom of movement rules for the economic bloc no longer apply for the UK since its exit last year.
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The eligible prize winners have been categorised by subject areas and cover Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Chemistry, Economic Science and Medicine; Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering; Fields Medal; and Turing Award for science, technology, engineering and maths.
The Brit Award – International Male/Female; Mobo – Best International Act; Grammys – Lifetime Achievement Award in the music category. For film, TV and theatre various Academy Award and Golden Globe categories; Bafta – Best Film Actress/Actor/Director; various Tony Awards; and the Olivier Awards for theatre. In arts and literature, the route will cover Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; Hugo Boss Prize; and Nobel Prize for Literature. Winners of certain awards across dance, fashion, architecture, and social sciences will also be included.
The Home Office said it has worked with the endorsing bodies to draft the initial list of qualifying prizes, which will be kept under review. It said that since it came into force in February 2020 under the new points-based system, thousands of people have already used the Global Talent route to come to the UK.