Music events cancelled due to UK visa delays

LONDON: A distinguished Pakistani music group the Sachal Jazz Ensemble’s visas were not approved in time by the UK Border Agency, leading to the cancellation of two sold out shows here and causing huge embarrassment to the organisers, disappointment to the fans and losses amounting to thousands of pounds.
The Lahore-based group of veteran musicians, who have made headlines around the world recently, were set to play at the King’s Place in London but the group had to cancel its London performances because it took the UKBA much longer to process the relevant artist’s visa in Pakistan and only approved after the events were long over.The entire group were in London April last year to play to sell out events and to huge acclaim and played in New York two weeks ago but only five of the six group’s members were issued visas to play in their latest series of concerts.
Jay Visvadeva, of Sama Arts Network, the concert organisers, told The News in an interview that Nafees Ahmad, the lead musician, applied over a month ago and the entry clearance officer at British High Commission, Islamabad, assured that the application will be looked after and later the same officer gave misleading information on the fast track process, which Nafees Ahmad was requesting.
He questioned why British High Commission in Islamabad acted with carelessness. “If I was successful in obtaining fast track visas for the five out of six musicians in New York in 48 hours, then why not in Pakistan. The sixth musician Baqar Abbas’s lead musician’s application had technical issues due to computer glitches, and his application had to be done twice, due to the UKBA website being shut-down for 48 hours from November 19 to 20.
All applications were submitted through an agent in New York and the appropriate fees for the priority process application (fast track) were paid. It was almost $830 per person, which included $330 application, $150 priority to UKBA agents, $200 to the registered agents plus $150 toward the application print outs and transportation costs to the biometric centres in NY.”
He explained that Baqar Abbas, the lead musician, later withdrew his application from the British Consulate New York and returned to Lahore as his application was yet to be approved. The London concerts were cancelled and he did not require coming to here after all. The main reason for cancelling the concerts was due to the fact that both Nafees Ahmad and Baqar Abbas are renowned in their own right and also the lead musicians of the Sachal Jazz Ensemble and the group cannot perform without them.”
Jay requested to the UKBA to understand the needs of Tier 5 Creative and Sporting category and fulfil the sponsor’s requirement by which the visas should be safely delivered so that the artistic fraternity can arrive safely, fulfil their engagements and leave thereafter. He said his company Sama Arts Network is a British Company and a Category “A” sponsor under the UKBA and has a clean record for 35 years in the field of arts and entertainment industry.
Jay said that the musicians are to come again in June/ July period 2014 as they have an engagement at the Barbican Centre with the distinguished Wynton Marsalis Band, followed by Sachal Jazz Ensemble’s own schedule at Kings Place.
Jay said that the delay or refusal of such visa applications is not Pakistan specific as other countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, certain African, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries are facing similar problems. Although for Pakistan, the route is long and difficult as visas are issued in Abu Dhabi.”
He appreciated that Pakistani musicians are world class and highly respected. “The Kings Place concerts were on their way to a sell-out had the events took place. The Alchemy concert in April 2012 was sold two weeks before the concert, and so were the group’s two concerts in New York. So the response to the Pak musicians is fantastic and well deserved.”
The UKBA’s own internal investigations suggest that Pakistani face more problems than other nationalities when it comes to obtaining visas. More Pakistanis have their visas refused in all categories than any other nationality.