The new points-based immigration system is “over-complicated” and “under-tested”, according to the Director of the National Campaign for the Arts (NCA), Louise de Winter. Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on the consequences of the new system for the arts sector, she drew attention to examples of foreign artists and organisations abandoning plans to visit the UK due to the complex biometric requirements that need to be met to gain entry into the country. De Winter stressed that while officials had tried to be helpful during the implementation of the new system, the arts sector was suffering from the rushed way in which the new system has been introduced. Drawing attention to complaints from the sector concerning the “cumbersome” IT system, she also expressed concerns “about the gradual erosion of UK cultural life, as the difficulties and implications for some artists to travel to perform in the UK become too onerous to justify”. The committee also received evidence from Malcolm Clay, Secretary of the Association of Circus Proprietors, and Ruth Jarratt, Director of Policy Development of the Royal Opera House. Speaking to AP, Jarratt said that administrative processes which had formerly taken around two weeks can now take as long as nine weeks. The new system is creating problems both in retaining the permanent companies, which contain many non-UK nationals, and in bringing high level international artists into the UK, particularly when they are required at short notice because of illness or cancellation by star performers. “It’s about a small number of exceptionally talented individuals,” she pointed out, adding that “special arrangements have been made for footballers in this context”.