Obscenity

According to David Bishop, the UK Home Office has decided not to renew any Artist's Visas, forcing everyone who held them previously to apply for a category of visas for highly skilled workers, who are required to prove they have university degrees or some other form of higher education in order to qualify for them.  This is patently nuts, and Bishop is writing in particular about Nikhil Singh, a graphic novelist, who hasn't been able to return to the UK, where he's lived for years, because he doesn't meet some of the qualifications for the new visa he has to apply for:

Despite being illustrator of a graphic novel acclaimed by the Financial Times, the Sunday Express and comics legend Alan Moore, Singh was told he does not qualify for this visa because he does not have a degree. He was also made to take an English language test, despite having worked in the UK as a journalist for many years.

....
Nikhil Singh says: "This new legislature speaks poorly of a country previously renowned as an international nexus of arts and culture. The fact that so many academics and artists are being refused entry for such petty reasons only weakens England's cultural backbone. The new immigration laws have insinuated an atmosphere of creative policing that is entirely out of character with the various professions it has effected."

This is both obscene and astonishingly stupid.  First, it's amazingly classist to make higher education proof of talent for artists.  You can be an utterly brilliant artist and be self-taught or classically educated.  Not having a university degree is not inherent proof of lack of talent.  You could be broke and unable to afford to go to art school, or unable to finish, and still be a genius.  It makes much, much more sense to require artists to have some kind of professional sponsor or witness, whether it's a gallerist, museum director, publisher, symphony director, etc., someone who is deemed professionally accomplished and can attest to the artist's talent and ability to contribute within the UK.  It could be an artistic equivalent of the U.S.'s H-1B visa program for highly skilled workers.  There would still be an application process, but the qualifications would be relevant to the people applying.  Second, it's arguably racist to make someone who has already clearly established their English language proficiency to take a language test just because he's foreign-born.

But it's the astonishingly stupid part that gets me.  How is it possibly in the UK's interest to kick out a bunch of talented artists?  It's just baffling to me, but if someone has a coherent explanation, I suppose I'd be happy to hear and evaluate it.