Nigerians lead the way in UK fashion visas according to report
According to the Telegraph's analysis of official data, there have been 291 Nigerian applications for fashion visas between 2019 and 2014, the highest number among all countries. This was followed by 67 Chinese applicants.
Fashion-related visa applications from Nigeria rose from three in 2019 to 145 in 2024. Meanwhile, over the same period, the British Fashion Council (BFC) has endorsed 71 Nigerian applications, also more than any other nationality.
The BFC has been granted the power to endorse applications on behalf of the UK's Home Office, which then signs-off on the visas. The council receives around two million pounds a year from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to promote British fashion and, in recent years, has set about diversifying the local fashion industry.
The increase comes as part of a broader surge in talent-related visa applications from Nigeria, with most applying via the route for 'literature'. Since 2019, Nigerians have made 729 applications across artistic global talent categories in the UK, the Telegraph reported. Just 59 percent of them are endorsed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economist
10 minutes ago
- Economist
Six months after DeepSeek's breakthrough, China speeds on with AI
The mecca for China's boom in artificial intelligence is Liangzhu, a leafy suburb of Hangzhou, the tech-heavy capital of Zhejiang province. The Communist Party has long touted Liangzhu's famous archaeological remains, dating back to 3300BC, as proof of the age of Chinese civilisation. Now Liangzhu, with its myriad AI startups, represents the future. Investors from all over China flock there to meet growing numbers of founders, app engineers and other AI developers and dreamers. It is six months since a barely known AI startup, DeepSeek, caused a huge stir by releasing an impressive open-source model trained for a sliver of the cost of fancier Western ones. Its founder studied at Zhejiang University, a tech mothership not far from Liangzhu. The area is at the heart of an AI ecosystem which China hopes will soon rival America's.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Canada to help lumber industry cope with US tariffs, says Carney
OTTAWA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Canada will provide up to C$1.2 billion to help softwood lumber producers deal with U.S. countervailing and anti-dumping duties, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday. Carney, speaking to reporters in the Pacific province of British Columbia, said Ottawa would make up to C$700 million available in loan guarantees and also provide C$500 million to help speed product development and market diversification. ((Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Promit Mukherjee)) (Reuters Ottawa editorial; opens new tab)) Keywords: USA TARIFFS/TRUMP CANADA
The Herald Scotland
24 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Truss ‘carries quite a lot of blame' for Tory record, Badenoch claims
Speaking on a farm near Saffron Walden in her constituency, Mrs Badenoch also described herself as an 'Essex girl', and added that people from the county 'are grafters; they work hard'. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch wipes away grain dust after trying her hand at harvesting wheat (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The Leader of the Opposition faced questions about Ms Truss's claim that under the Conservatives, 'the economy was wrecked with profligate Covid spending by (Rishi) Sunak' and that 'the huge increase in immigration has been a disaster'. Mrs Badenoch told ITV Anglia: 'I know that, as a former prime minister and a former foreign secretary, (Ms Truss) carries quite a lot of that blame. 'The party's now under new leadership. 'I wasn't in charge during those 14 years; she was. 'That's a criticism she's probably levelling at herself.' The Tory leader also said she was 'telling the truth' about her party's record. Kemi Badenoch speaks to farmer Sam Goddard during her visit to Hall Farm in Little Walden, Essex (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 'I'm telling the truth that immigration was too high – that's why we have much tougher policies to fix immigration,' she continued. 'I am telling the truth that taxes were too high, that we were putting a lot of regulation on businesses, and what we're seeing is Labour making every single thing worse. 'They're doing that because they haven't learned many of the lessons that we learned. They haven't learned from our mistakes. They're making worse mistakes.' The Labour Government's mistakes include making 'no cut in spending at all – the books were not balanced', Mrs Badenoch claimed. 'We're spending more on welfare than we are on defence – that cannot continue,' she said. Mrs Badenoch had previously told The Telegraph that 'for all their mocking of Liz Truss, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have not learnt the lessons of the mini-budget and are making even bigger mistakes'. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch drives a combine harvester during her visit (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Ms Truss, who spent 49 days in Number 10, hit back when she said that 'instead of serious thinking', Mrs Badenoch was 'repeating spurious narratives'. She continued: 'I suspect she is doing this to divert from the real failures of 14 years of Conservative government in which her supporters are particularly implicated. 'It was a fatal mistake not to repeal Labour legislation like the Human Rights Act because the modernisers wanted to be the 'heirs to Blair'. 'Huge damage was done to our liberties through draconian lockdowns and enforcement championed by Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings. 'The economy was wrecked with profligate Covid spending by Sunak. The huge increase in immigration has been a disaster.' Mrs Badenoch also took questions about her identity, after she told the Rosebud podcast: 'I have not renewed my Nigerian passport, I think, not since the early 2000s. Kemi Badenoch speaks to farmers during her visit to Hall Farm in Little Walden (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 'I don't identify with it any more, most of my life has been in the UK and I've just never felt the need to.' The North West Essex MP told ITV Anglia: 'I am definitely an Essex girl, that is a fact.' A London Assembly member before she took her Commons seat in 2017, Mrs Badenoch said: 'I represent an Essex constituency, these are my people. 'I was a Londoner, but Essex people asked me to be their MP, and I want to make sure that I do them proud. And I love this part of the world. 'It's fantastic being here. It's a rural community, and I've been talking to the farmers here. I talked about how my grandfather was a farmer, it's very hard work. 'The people of Essex and East Anglia – they are grafters. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch sits in the cab of a combine harvester (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 'They work hard, and I want to make sure that we do right by them.' Mrs Badenoch spent Tuesday morning at a farm in Little Walden, where she tried her hand at harvesting wheat using a Claas Lexion combine harvester. She told farmers: 'A lot of farming just feels like constant interference. 'Everything is interfered from the minute you wake up.' Examples of interference included 'chemicals and insecticide, people you're hiring, how much you've got to pay them', plus changes to 'employers' NI (national insurance), then somebody wants to put pylons on, there's compulsory purchase, it's impacting the cost of the land, if you want to add a new farm building, there's planning applications', she said. 'It's just endless constant Government saying, 'You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't move forwards'. 'And the burden in my view has now crossed the threshold.'
