Zahira Asmal, an urbanist from South Africa, has been forced to cancel a planned lecture in London after a "humiliating" experience with UK visa services.
The cancellation comes amid rising concern over the way overseas creatives, particularly those from Africa, are being treated when applying for visas to visit the UK.
Asmal had been due to give a lecture in London this September as part of a series of talks organised by the Architecture Foundation.
But Asmal, who is director of Cape Town urban research, publishing and placemaking agency The City, withdrew following a gruelling and costly battle with UK diplomats over her visa.
Application process "overpriced and unfair"
In a Facebook post, she described the visa application process as "humiliating, overpriced and unfair" and said her decision to cancel her lecture was "tough and heart breaking". "We are made to feel like criminals each time rather than collaborators and guests," wrote Asmal, who has visited the UK on numerous occasions in the past and worked for two years at the London office of Adjaye Associates as research and special projects manager.
"In South Africa we welcome visitors from the UK with open arms, smiles, mountain walks and dinner invitations."
Architecture Foundation deputy director Phineas Harper said the immigration clampdown since the Brexit vote posed a threat to the UK's creative industries.
"The Home Office's hostility towards vis...