Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Royal Opera House (ROH)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Since we submitted our written evidence
in July 2008, a number of developments have taken place. In particular
we have engaged in the process of registering The Royal Ballet,
The Royal Opera and ROH2 as sponsoring subsidiaries of the organisation
and have some experience of issuing Certificates of Sponsorship
(CoS) under the new system. The notes below update issues raised
in our earlier submission and additionally set out issues that
have emerged since we wrote that submission.
2. ISSUES WITH
TIER 2: RECRUITMENT
INTO THE
ROYAL BALLET
2.1 Following representation from ROH and
others, the Migration Advisory Committee decided to include "skilled
ballet dancer" in the list of shortage occupations. We were
pleased with this result since in our view it represented the
simplest approach to managing the entry of skilled ballet dancers
and obviating the need for the Resident Labour Market Test. (See
section 2.5 of earlier submission.)
3. ISSUES WITH
TIER 5: REPLACEMENTS
FOR PERFORMANCES
OF THE
ROYAL OPERA
3.1 As noted in our earlier submission,
the Home Office has always been most helpful in the past in expediting
the entry of artists required at very short notice to replace
scheduled artists who have had to cancel at the last minute. We
are also encouraged that the Home Office and the UKBA are aware
of the challenges we face in this regard. However our experience
of operating under the new system indicates that it will be very
difficult for visa nationals to take on this kind of assignment,
as we feared.
3.2 It is worth noting that we are already dealing
on a regular basis with non-emergency Tier 5 cases involving a
wide range of artists and other artistic team members.
4. ISSUES WITH
TIER 5: ENGAGEMENT
OF VISITING
COMPANIES FOR
ROH2
4.1 We are pleased that the UKBA has clarified
the situation regarding Certificates of Sponsorship for visiting
artistic companies and that though a CoS has to be issued for
each individual in the group, only one CoS fee will be payable
for the group.
5. THE REGISTRATION
PROCESS
5.1 It is not always easy to get the registration
process absolutely right first time, though we registered The
Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera without too much trouble. In
the case of The Royal Opera we had to go through the registration
process a second time in order to pay the correct fee.
5.2 In registering ROH2 however we encountered
problems which resulted in a more serious delay. Once registered,
we did not receive our ROH2 User ID and so were unable to get
online and access the system. The UKBA helpline was unable to
advise and the alternative telephone number we were given was
constantly engaged. This situation was finally resolved through
the intervention of Louise Norman, Legal Officer for SOLT/TMA.
Only then, a month later, could we get online and issue Certificates
of Sponsorship.
6. OTHER UNRESOLVED
OR ANOMALOUS
ISSUES
6.1 Some pre-employment activities represent
a grey area where there is little published guidance. It has not
been clear for instance what process should be followed when requiring
artists to enter the UK for the purposes of audition, photo-shoots
or interviews ahead of their period of contracted employment.
We have recently had some helpful guidance on some of these points
and would like to suggest that this guidance is published.
6.2 We are currently requesting guidance concerning
formal schemes such as our Young Artist scheme where the selection
process and employment patterns within the sector require us to
start the recruitment process over a year prior to the start of
employment. This means that we have to place advertisements up
to 12 months prior issuing a CoS when the normal time limit is
6 months under the Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) Code of
Practice for performers in opera. We are exploring this issue
with UKBA through Louise Norman of SOLT/TMA.
6.3 Finally it is important to note that
we are currently operating in a period of transition when not
only are there both work permits and Certificates of Sponsorship
in circulation simultaneously, but when some immigration border
staff are not fully up to speed. We have had an instance in which
someone arrived with a Certificate of Sponsorship and the immigration
officer at the border said he had no knowledge of PBS or the CoS
system and requested that they present a work permit.
February 2009
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