Key facts
- iCareer Consultancy UK's consultant said a fully inclusive package costing more than £100,000 had never been refused a Global Talent visa.
- The consultant, who gave his name as Peter and whose real name is Shilong Guan, said artwork would be produced in China and some information backdated.
- He said an extra 250,000 yuan (£28,000) could help the reporter win a Forbes China Future Artists Award, with money refunded if she did not win.
- iCareer denied selling visa services and said the consultant had left its employment before he spoke to the undercover reporter.
- The Home Office said it was revoking visas issued to two Nigerian men who claimed to be fine art photographers.
- About 6,600 Global Talent visas were granted in 2025, and arts and culture applications nearly doubled between 2023 and 2025.
Companies are offering to help migrants pose as talented artists and tech experts to make fraudulent UK visa applications under a fast-track immigration scheme, the BBC reported on November 13, 2026. The Global Talent visa was launched in 2020 to attract scientists and researchers and is also open to creative artists. Applicants are not interviewed and must prove they are exceptionally talented or promising in their field; those granted the visa can bring their families and have a potentially quick path to permanent residency in three or five years.
A consultant from iCareer Consultancy UK, based in Canary Wharf, told a BBC undercover reporter posing as a potential client that his firm could supply artwork produced in China and arrange exhibitions, media coverage and letters of recommendation. No clients taking the fully inclusive package, costing more than £100,000, had ever been refused a Global Talent visa, he said. The consultant, who gave his name as Peter and whose real name is Shilong Guan, said at least four of his clients had obtained a visa in 2026 and about 10 people were in the process of applying. He said the company could supply an employee to pose as a client at gallery openings and that for an extra 250,000 yuan (£28,000) the reporter could win a Forbes China Future Artists Award, with money refunded if she did not win. Forbes confirmed to the BBC that the awards are genuine and that ADArt, iCareer's sister company, is a sponsor.
iCareer denied selling visa services and said the consultant had left its employment before he spoke to the undercover reporter, despite continuing to be listed on the company's website and providing a contract with the company's name and contact email address. The BBC said it was alerted to apparently faked newspaper articles reviewing the work of two Nigerian men who claimed to be fine art photographers. Art critic Molara Wood told the BBC her name had been attached to online reviews she had not written. The Home Office said it was revoking the visas issued to the two men because it believes they were obtained by deception.
A woman who tried to get a talent visa via the tech route from India told the BBC a company she had used fabricated evidence for her application, including a made-up mentoring award and material falsely suggesting she had been a speaker at an event; her application was rejected. The Home Office described the BBC's findings as extremely serious and said the company offering the £100,000 package was already under investigation. A spokesperson said the government will not tolerate anyone cheating the UK immigration system and that the Global Talent route was already under review. Arts Council England, which endorsed just under half of the nearly 3,500 arts and culture applications it received in 2025, told the BBC it took allegations of fraud seriously. Senior immigration lawyer Harjap Singh Bhangal, who reviewed the findings, said helping people pose as artists in this way amounted to a sophisticated fraud.