伦敦 —— 马戏节目出租与落地条件Circus Act for Hire in London — Venues, Licensing and the Creative Worker Route

英国要先当"非欧盟市场"来准备Treat the UK as its own market, not as part of Europe

Since leaving the EU, the UK has to be planned as a separate jurisdiction with its own entry rules and its own customs position. Two consequences matter to a visiting act.

• Equipment needs an ATA Carnet. Temporary admission of professional kit into the UK is no longer the frictionless movement it is inside the EU. The carnet has to be issued before departure, and the kit list has to match what actually arrives.
• Artists need a sponsored route, not a visitor route. Performing for a fee is work. The relevant route is the Creative Worker visa, and it is not something a visiting company can arrange on its own — see below.

签证：Creative Worker 与担保Immigration: the Creative Worker route

Paid performance in the UK sits under the Creative Worker route, which replaced the old Tier 5 creative and sporting category. Three features matter when you are planning a booking.

• A licensed sponsor is required. The artist needs a Certificate of Sponsorship from a UK organisation that holds a sponsor licence for creative workers. Circus performers are named in the guidance as an eligible role.
• Minimum salary codes do not apply in the usual way. The route normally requires pay at the minimum set by the relevant industry body — and the guidance explicitly exempts circus performers from that requirement. It still has to meet UK minimum wage law.
• A concession route exists for short stays. Non-visa nationals coming for a short engagement may be able to use the Creative Worker visa concession instead of a full application. Whether it applies depends on nationality and length of stay.

场地许可：整场许可与临时活动通知Venue licensing: premises licence or a temporary event notice

Entertainment in England is licensed under the Licensing Act. In practice a booking falls into one of two cases, and knowing which one you are in changes the whole timeline.

• The venue already holds a premises licence covering regulated entertainment. This is the straightforward case: the venue is already permitted, and what you need is the venue's technical sign-off on rigging, loadings and audience capacity.
• The venue does not, or the activity falls outside it. Then a temporary event notice is normally needed from the local authority, with its own notice period and limits on audience size and duration. Outdoor sites, pop-ups and one-off spaces usually land here.

On top of licensing there is a second layer that catches rigged acts: structural and rigging sign-off. Suspended loads need a competent person's calculations, and listed or older buildings often have no usable rigging points at all. For London we ask for the rigging plan before we quote, not after.

档期：圣诞季是全年主战场Season: the winter window dominates

• November to early January — the peak. Festive programming, winter fairs, illuminated trails and the Christmas circus tradition. Dates and sites are committed early in the year.
• February and May half-terms. Family programming spikes around school holidays, with shorter runs than the winter season.
• Summer festivals and outdoor events. The other main window, but weather-dependent and with tighter licensing for outdoor sites.
• Corporate and venue-led dates run through the year, mostly as single evening events rather than runs.

Because the winter window is finite and heavily contested, a London booking is usually decided on when far more than on what.

需要您提供什么What we need from your side

• The venue, and whether it holds a premises licence covering the performance.
• Whether the site is indoor or outdoor, with the clear height and the rigging plan if there is one.
• The target dates and the shape of the run — a single evening, a week, or a season.
• Who will be the sponsoring UK organisation, so the immigration track can run alongside the commercial one.

With those, we will come back with a format recommendation plus the document list the sponsor and the venue will each need.

常见问题Frequently asked questions

取得联系Start the conversation

Email mengtangshow@outlook.com with your venue type, the format you have in mind and your target dates, or reach us on WhatsApp at +86 189 6899 9691 (GMT+8). Site surveys are free of charge and come before any contract is discussed.