London, June 28 (ANI): Author Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi and over 100 other luminaries from the arts world, have criticized Britain's points-based immigration system for non-EU artists, calling it "needlessly bureaucratic and intrusive".
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, over 100 writers and artists criticized the visa system as "inappropriate for short-term visits by artists," the BBC reports.
The letter suggests that "as short-term visits by artists have no impact on migration, there is no need to administer their entry via the points-based system."
The group has called on the government to allow artists to circumvent the points system, as is the case "for entertainers who attend festivals."
The letter claimed that Cannes Palme d'Or-winning director Abbas Kiarostami and acclaimed concert pianist Grigory Sokolov "have been dissuaded from future visits."
It also states that organizations that sponsor such artists to visit the UK cannot afford the cost of the applications and are put off by the amount of red tape involved.
Other signatories include Sir Nicholas Hytner, David Hare, Philip Pullman, Nicholas Serota, Dame Antonia Fraser, Michael Morpurgo, Mark Haddon and Sarah Waters. (ANI)
Keywords:Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, UK , immigration, point based
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