To be very honest, I did not know that Murat and Michelle were just about to come for the first time to the UK to teach some workshops. If I knew I would have forgotten that I actually do not have money and booked a few workshops. You got to sort out your priorities!
But the British Government decided to present us with yet another bureaucracy jewel. Despite being trying to get a visa for 3 months, the Home Office was unable to issue them and therefore, Murat and Michelle cannot come to the UK. I am aware that the current climate in the UK is quite tense but the only thing that MyM would terrorise would be the great deal of self-called teachers that pretend they teach tango in some parts of the UK.
At least the organisers managed to find worthy replacements. Jenny and Ricardo will lead the workshops. I wish I had booked it anyway!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Bloody immigration rules!
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This is going to be a major nuisance. The new rules (they've just changed) don't seem to have any sensible way of dealing with this particular kind of work. I am curious to know whether universities who invite visiting lecturers - essentially the same thing - are also suffering problems. If not, why not?
Good question MsHedgehog! And this is true for many other activities that rely on people around the world to come and share their knowledge with us...
Having looked at the relevant government website, I suspect the problem is that these visas are being considered under the category of "sports and entertainments - dancers: popular teachers (who are performing) and choreographers." In fact, of course, when Jorge and Maria Dispari, or Murat and Michelle, are asked to come here, they're not being employed as performers or choreographers. They might perform, but they're being employed as eminent professors of a specific type of dance, and the category and required 'evidence' make no real sense in relation to who they are and why anyone would want to hire them. A far more appropriate category would be the next one up, "cultural visits" - but that link goes nowhere! Maybe they haven't decided what it means yet.
Work permits are nothing new. It's just that teachers from Argentina have been traveling illegally to work in Europe and other countries for years because organizers haven't taken the time to check the laws.
I brought Copes & Nieves, Zotto & Plebs, Pepito & Suzuki to Chicago in 1995 for one week to teach and had to obtain work permits and visas for them. It requires paperwork, but the peace of mind is worth it. They wouldn't work without them.
I heard that a couple from BsAs traveled to the UK this year. An immigration official did a search for their names and found they had traveled to teach. They were immediately put on the plane and told they would never be allowed to enter the country again.
Hi MsHedgehog:
Links going nowhere, that is SO familiar to me. And nowadays, when the rules become more complicated, the problem is that nobody knows the full spectrum of legislation. I think cultural visits is a much more appropriate label to what kind of good Argentine tango teachers do!
Hi jantango, nice to see you here. It's true that work permits are nothing new. But it's also true that getting them is getting stupidly difficult, at least in the UK. And what for? They hardly ever get the bad guys, only innocent people that want to get on with their lives...
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