Spain scraps work visa requirement for UK touring artists
UK artists looking to perform in Spain will no longer need
to complete the costly and complex work visa process required post-Brexit after
Spain’s Cabinet agreed to waive the previous rules.
One of the downsides of Brexit for UK music lovers in Spain
has been that British artists and bands can no longer go on tour in the country
without having to first arrange third-country audiovisual work visas for their
whole crews.
Most EU nations have signed bilateral agreements with the
British government to alleviate the fallout of the UK leaving the bloc but
unfortunately Spain, together with Croatia and Bulgaria, were until now the only
three countries with no alternative arrangement in place.
As of November 14th that changes, as the Spanish Cabinet has
followed the advice of Spain’s Association of Music promoters (APM) as well as
their British counterparts LIVE and the Association for British Orchestras
(ABO) to find a solution to the visa obstacle.
As explained in the official state bulletin (BOE) dealing
with the decree, British musicians, actors and other artists as well as other
people who form part of the audiovisual sector will be able to carry out their
work activities in Spain for 90 out of 180 days without requiring a work visa.
“We are delighted that our hard work has paid off and the
Spanish Government has agreed to lift the restrictive visa process for touring
artists, ending the complicated and painful process of expensive visa applications,”
Craig Stanley, Chair of the LIVE Touring Group said.
A whole host of people came together both here and in Spain
to fix this situation and this shows what we can achieve as an industry when we
work together.
The ruling is in fact good news for artists and production
teams from all non-EU countries, not just the United Kingdom, as the waiving of
the work visa requirement applies to all third-country nationals who work in
the audiovisual sector.
The bureaucratic nightmare involved in performing in Spain
post-Brexit recently became evident when two indie groups – Squid and Black
Country – cancelled their performances in late October in Madrid, Barcelona and
San Sebastián.
According to the groups and organisers Primera Sound Tours,
“bureaucratic problems derived from Brexit” were the reason for the
cancellations, as each work visa for band members, road crew, technicians and
other sound personnel would have cost €400, making their concerts financially
unfeasible.
Add to this the slow and complex bureaucracy that
accompanies this visa process (Spain has famously lost several big Hollywood
deals as a result) and it became fairly unappealing, especially for smaller
bands that don’t have the manpower or resources
“Until now, artists and their promoters have had to make
applications for short-term visas entirely in Spanish, provide a host of
itinerary details before having even been given the green light for the tour to
go ahead – including accommodation and flight allocations – and give proof of
applicant earnings of up to nearly £1,000 before ever having left the country,”
UK live music trade body LIVE stated.
“Costs were also prohibitive, amounting to over £10,000 for
an orchestra to visit Spain for up to five days.
“Touring artists and their production teams were also
required to wait for over a month for a decision, making long term scheduling –
vital for successful international touring – impossible.”
The Spanish Cabinet’s ruling represents a boost for Spain
and the UK’s live music industry, as the Iberian nation is the fifth largest
live music market in the world.
For months, the music industry has been warning of visa
problems that awaited UK bands performing in Europe. On the other hand, EU
performers don’t generally require a visa to perform in the UK.
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