Companies are offering to help migrants pose as talented artists and technology experts to make fraudulent applications for the UK's fast-track Global Talent visa, a BBC investigation published on 13 November 2026 has found.

The BBC sent an undercover reporter, posing as a potential client, into a London consultancy. The reporter was told the firm could supply artwork produced in China for clients to pass off as their own, along with exhibitions, media coverage and letters of recommendation to support a visa application.

The consultant, who gave his name as Peter and said he was from iCareer Consultancy UK, based in Canary Wharf, told the reporter that no client taking the firm's "fully inclusive" package, costing more than £100,000, had ever been refused a Global Talent visa. For an extra £28,000, the reporter could also win a Chinese art award sponsored by Forbes magazine, the BBC reported.

How the Global Talent visa works

The Global Talent visa was launched in 2020 to attract the "brightest and best" scientists and researchers from around the world. It is also open to creative artists. Applicants are not interviewed, and they must prove they are exceptionally talented or promising in their field. People granted the visa can bring their families to the UK, and there is a potentially quick path to permanent residency, in three or five years.

About 6,600 Global Talent visas were granted in 2025, according to the BBC, and applications in the arts and culture category almost doubled between 2023 and 2025.

According to GOV.UK, the visa costs £766 to apply for, and holders can live and work in the UK for up to five years at a time. Applicants must be at least 18 years old. Anyone considering the route should check the official GOV.UK Global Talent visa page before applying, as fees and rules can change.

Two visas being revoked

Following the BBC investigation, the Home Office is now revoking visas issued to two Nigerian men who claimed to be fine art photographers, because it believes the visas were obtained by deception. The BBC said it had been alerted to apparently faked newspaper articles reviewing the men's artistic work, and a well-known Nigerian art critic told investigators her name had been attached to online reviews praising the work of the two seemingly obscure artists.

Another woman, who tried to get a talent visa through the technology route from India, told the BBC that 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.

Home Office response

The Home Office described the findings of the BBC investigation as "extremely serious" and said the company offering the £100,000 package to the BBC reporter was already under investigation. It added that the Global Talent route was already under review and that the home secretary "will take whatever action is needed to stop it being abused".

Immigration lawyer Harjap Singh Bhangal told the BBC that the contract Peter sent the undercover reporter amounted to "a contract to break the law". When the BBC confronted Peter, he denied he was willing to help people pretend to be artists or have artwork made, saying: "We are not doing anything wrong or illegal, all of our artists are real artists."

iCareer, through lawyers, said Peter's employment had ended in early October, shortly before he spoke to the undercover reporter, and strongly denied "offering any visa services whatsoever". The company said the meeting described by the BBC was not authorised by iCareer and that it did not endorse the representations attributed to him. It added that it had been unaware that Peter and another employee had made social media posts promoting these services and would investigate.

Peter continued to be listed as an employee on iCareer's website, and on his own LinkedIn profile, until the company was contacted by the BBC, which iCareer described as an oversight. The BBC also reported that iCareer's sister company, ADArt Global Ltd, is registered with the government regulator to offer immigration advice, and that Forbes confirmed the awards are genuine and that ADArt is a sponsor.

The investigation followed a tip-off after an earlier BBC investigation into fraudulent asylum claims, in which the broadcaster exposed how law firms and advisers were helping migrants pretend to be gay to obtain asylum.