Context:
The anti-immigration bill pushed by the Conservative Government in the December of 2023 - which outlined how immigrants making less than £38,000 were not to be given Visas (both work and spousal) - has thankly been pushed back due to public pressure, supposedly to be reviewed in March of 2024.

But this is a discussion that is far from settled in British politics. At the time of the bill's consultation, the Labour Party curiously made it a point to contest against the bill on severity and efficiency rather than ethics. But at the end of the day, they were open about considering some sort of financial cut-off point in which immigrants would be refused their visas. In other words, the Overton window has shifted sufficiently that the point of contention in British public life is not in either the United Kingdom should be open or restrictive to immigrants. Rather, it is to what extent the British government will cave into pressure from an increasingly divisive British public, to divert the blame on immigrants and refugees for modern problems of the state.

For immigrant artists, such conditions create multiple problems:
1) Most artists working in the performing arts, theater, film and TV industry are all freelancers. As freelancers, it's uncommon for such individuals to have jobs all year round - and taking that into consideration earn enough to average out to £38,000 pounds.
2) Compounding on the anti-immigration bill, new anti-protest laws create an incredibly hostile space for public protests - where individuals can be arrested on the grounds of making too much noise (without guidance on what that realistically entails). An immigrant who participates in such protests legally, can easily be arrested and by procedure have their VISAs cancelled - then be deported.
3) There is in increasing appetite in the UK on gating immigrants who do not meld with British values - with thinly veiled threats of deporting or removing such immigrants who express "anti-British" values. But what does being anti-British mean?

All of this leads to a situation where an immigrant artist naturally self-regulates and censors themselves as a method of self-preservation - ultimately unsure of any long-term future in the industry.
So... what do we do about it?

Suggestions:
1) A member of the discussion was involved in fighting LGBT injustice in the British Armed Forces in the 1990s.The individual in questioned viewed the key to the success of the movement was in keeping a calm head - in doing so demonstrating the irrational prejudice of his opponents. This was important, as it helped create allies who were willing to see reason in his argumentation.
2) Solidarity among the performing arts! The industry as a whole is quite aware of such issues and is likely to be sympathetic if this is discussed in person.
3) Community action. There are already quite a few grass root organisations born from immigrant and migrant populations in the UK. To start this process of giving immigrant artists a voice in the UK, to start from scratch would be overwhelming. We must make an effort to connect with such communities, and what their perspective, solutions and experiences might be.
4) Ultimately, the immigrant community and the migrant artist will not find their rights alone. Being a minority silenced, the immigrant community requires advocates within the British citizenry. Specifically, we need allies who are willing to support (rather than lead) those migrant artists who are at risk – as inability to do so has resulted in sporadic support and acts of resistance.

Additional Observations tangentially related to topic discussion:
1) Freelance being freelance, steady streams of revenue are difficult.
2) We are already seeing artists from the global south being denied work visas by an increasingly emboldened home office.
3) A member of the discussion group had lived in France before coming to the UK. They noted the dichotomy of how the UK (esp. the London community they belong to) is more open to immigrants and their cultures than other European nations. Yet this does not seem to be reflected in policy making.
4) At the end of the day, aren’t we all suffering? Isn’t the UK in a state of impoverishment? Are not both native British and British immigrant in the same boat in regard to the difficulties of British life?
5) Is our framing of what makes a prosperous nation (commonly understood by GDP, and in more liberal circles GDP per Capita) wrong? How do we measure how well the country is doing for its people?
6) None of these issues can be solved by pain, or national difficulties. Struggle after all only entrenches a person’s existing beliefs, rather than teach shortcomings.

Conclusions/Actions:
We as a group however can acknowledge that the observations made in premise for this discussion is not unfounded. But discussion between members of different ethnicities and age groups have determined that this is not an issue that an individual immigrant artists can solve.
No conclusions or actionable plans have been made. But an emphasis has been put on creating a larger community to represent immigrant artists in a political climate where populism runs rampant.
does not seem to be reflected in policy making.