UK revokes visas of two Nigerians after BBC exposes fake-artist Global Talent visa scheme worth £100,000

£100,000 for a fake art career — and a Nigerian newspaper's byline. Two visas are being revoked, and genuine Nigerian artists are the ones who will feel it.

A BBC investigation published on 13 November found companies offering wealthy migrants fake art portfolios, exhibitions and press coverage to secure UK Global Talent visas for fees up to £100,000. Following the BBC's findings, the UK Home Office began revoking the visas of two Nigerian men, Silva Ndifon and Adanu Emmanuel Okoko, who posed as fine-art photographers.

Their applications included online newspaper reviews attributed to Nigerian art critic Molara Wood, who said she never wrote them; Wood discovered the articles on the Nigerian Tribune website, which removed them and said it had identified a staff member who uploaded them without authorisation. The Home Office called the findings “extremely serious”; the consultancy involved, iCareer Consultancy UK (Canary Wharf), is under investigation.

The men are believed to be living in the UK. The revocation is UNDER WAY, not confirmed complete — TheCable says the visas were “revoked”; the BBC's own wording is that revocation is “in process”. The consultancy is under investigation, not convicted.

Nigerians are among the leading applicants for the UK's Global Talent visa through creative categories — a fraud crackdown directly affects genuine Nigerian artists and applicants, and the fake reviews were planted on a Nigerian newspaper's website using a real Nigerian critic's byline. The warning for genuine applicants: the route is now under a microscope. No verified photo of the two named men was found, so this article carries no photo.

← Back to homepage  ·  Archive