Paul Carey Jones on Brexit: 'It's the less privileged who will face the biggest challenges'

The double whammy of Covid-19 and the end of the Brexit transition period is providing the few musicians travelling from the UK to the EU with a daunting obstacle course of paperwork. As the government has freely admitted, working in each of the 27 EU countries now requires adherence to individual entry requirements. However, clarification of what those requirements are to be will only emerge in time, country by country.

Observations on the ground thus far indicate the post-Brexit scenario means, for example, that for any one country a visa application may be required, likely involving a visit to the relevant embassy and the surrender of one’s passport for a period. Turn up at an EU border without such bona fide documents as the contract with your employer, a residential booking for the duration of your stay, evidence of your round-trip travel booking and bank statements showing you have adequate funds… and you could be sent home. Throw in added Covid measures — such as the requirement to provide evidence of a negative test, upgraded health insurance and the filling-in of a health statement — and the exercise threatens to overwhelm.

On the post-Brexit front, until greater clarity emerges, says bass-baritone Paul Carey Jones, artists and/or their managers have no option but to devise check-lists of possible requirements well in advance. Carey Jones has made it his business to assemble as much data as the confused situation allows, and to think out strategies. For one thing, he suggests, ‘Try and talk to a musician who’s already gone through the hoops involved with a particular country. Get as much practical help as possible from employers in the countries concerned. They have the connections. It’s in their interests to be supportive because they want your services.’

Carey Jones warns that successfully negotiating your visa application via an embassy may not smooth entry into any given territory. ‘Individual border control staff can be a law unto themselves. Just because a mate of yours crossed that border problem-free last week doesn’t guarantee anything. It helps if your agent and/or accountant— if you have them — can be contactable to assist. Otherwise, make sure you can directly communicate with your employers — there’s no substitute for local knowledge. Established international musicians have the resources and support to deal with this sort of thing — it’s much more daunting if you’re a young artist, for instance. It's the less privileged who will face the biggest challenges. That’s Brexit in a nutshell.’                               

The most optimistic thing that can be said, says Carey Jones, is that ‘this is as bad as things will be as far as Brexit is concerned. Things will get better gradually as more artists go through the various immigration systems and glitches are ironed out.’

Carey Jones has written more on the subject on his website, here.