The Home Office is investigating a scheme in which migrants are buying their way into Britain with fake art portfolios and bogus press cuttings under a fast-track visa programme intended for the world's top talent.
A BBC investigation found firms offering to help applicants pose as artists and tech experts to secure a Global Talent visa, with one package costing £100,000. Successful applicants face no interview, can bring their families and can fast-track settlement in Britain in as little as three years.
Undercover probe reveals services
The BBC sent an undercover reporter, posing as a client, into one consultancy. According to the broadcaster, the firm offered to supply ready-made artwork produced in China for clients to pass off as their own, along with media coverage and letters of recommendation.
It boasted that nobody who had taken its “fully inclusive” £100,000 package had ever had their Global Talent visa turned down. Speaking in Mandarin, the reporter was told by a consultant that at least four of his clients had secured the visa this year, with around 10 more in the pipeline.
The consultant claimed the company could even supply an employee to pose as the client and network at gallery openings, building a paper trail for the application. For an extra £28,000, he claimed, the reporter could win a Chinese art award sponsored by Forbes magazine to bolster the bid.
Visa revocations and official response
The BBC also reported that fake newspaper articles had been produced, using the names of real journalists in Nigeria, to praise the bogus artwork. Officials have already revoked the visas of two Nigerian men who had claimed to be fine art photographers.
The Global Talent visa was launched six years ago to lure the world's brightest minds to Britain. About 6,600 were granted in 2025, and applications in the arts and culture category almost doubled between 2023 and 2025. Arts applications must be endorsed by Arts Council England, which backed just under half of the nearly 3,500 it received last year. It said it took fraud allegations seriously and investigated where evidence was “suggested to have been misleading or fraudulent”.
A Home Office spokesperson said the findings were “extremely serious” and that the company was being investigated. They said the Government “will not tolerate anyone cheating the UK immigration system”, adding that the route was already under review and “the Home Secretary will take whatever action is needed to stop it being abused”.
