"It shouldn’t be like this”: Touring musicians fighting for UK visas

Following public outcry, the Home Office overturned its decision to deny visas to a band of 47 exiled Afghan musicians who were due to tour the UK this month.

The Southbank Centre criticised the Home Office on Monday when the Afghan Youth Orchestra’s tour Breaking The Silence was thrown into doubt after the Home Office denied their visas at the last minute, a decision the venue said “denies UK audiences the opportunity of being inspired by their brave work”.

The UK’s largest arts centre described the orchestra, made up of musicians aged 14 to 22, as a “beacon of hope and free creative expression” and said it was “extremely disappointed” by the news, before urging on the Home Office to reconsider its decision. 

This followed an outcry online with over 1,000 people sharing the post on X, as MPs joined the call for the Home Office to overturn the decision. Labour MP Barbara Keeley called it a “disgrace” and highlighted the plight of overseas musicians accessing visas to the UK. 

“It has been a battle for the last 2 years to get visas for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Now we hear that the Afghan Youth Orchestra have been denied visas. Shame on this Government,” Keeley responded. 

She has since written to the Home Secretary James Cleverly about the “concerning trend” of “poor decision-making” with the Home Office failing to grant UK visas to touring musicians. 

Immigration and asylum law expert Alasdair Mackenzie wrote on X: “Remember: this isn’t a blip in the system. This is the system.”

Another X user wrote the decision was “incredibly shameful”, whilst others branded the ordeal a “mess”, at the financial and mental expense of those involved.

The youth orchestra has toured Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and is due to play in Carnegie Hall, New York. They were due to carry out a number of performances, educational activities and workshops in London, Birmingham and Manchester. 

Forced into exile from their home country by the Taliban, the group is now based in Portugal where they were granted asylum following a long and complex effort, in one of the largest group rescues of at-risk Afghans to date.

As well as sharing Afghan music, the performance hoped to raise awareness about the ban of music in Afghanistan and the “systematic denial of women rights by the Taliban”, the head of Afghanistan National Institute of Music said.

Within 24 hours of the outcry, the UK government had U-turned on its decision, but many were left asking how this was allowed to happen in the first place, as the ordeal shone a light on the Tories ‘hostile environment’ strategy and suggested a broken visa system.  

In a following statement Southbank Center wrote it was “delighted” that the Home Office had reversed its visa decision. 

The venue added: “This disruption has impacted the Afghan Youth Orchestra’s original travel plans and delayed their arrival in the UK.”

Further updates are expected soon on whether the orchestra will be able to perform on Thursday at the Southbank as planned. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Musicians and performers are a valued and important part of UK culture.

“Applications have to be considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules with the responsibility on applicants to demonstrate they meet these rules.”

(Image credit: Dave Pearce / Flickr)

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues

Comments are closed.