Visa worries for Llangollen music eisteddfod organisers

Llangollen attracts performers from about 50 countries each year to its eisteddfod

Some performers due to compete at a world music festival in Denbighshire have had their visas rejected due to a Home Office error, it has been claimed.

Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod says it has been left off a list of permit-free festivals so visa applications take more time to process.

The Home Office has been asked to comment.

Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones said she had written to the home secretary calling for the UK government to help.

She said a Home Office official had written to eisteddfod organisers about its "administrative oversight".

"The eisteddfod is hugely important to our area," she said.

'Bona fide'

Several people from China, Algeria, Tanzania and Ivory Coast had already been refused visas, said organisers.

Having the event on a Home Office list of permit-free festivals "confirms they're coming for bona fide reasons", eisteddfod competitors liaison officer Merle Hunt said.

The annual event, which was first held in Llangollen in 1947, hosts competitors from about 50 countries.

Over 100 dancers and musicians from several countries are still waiting to hear if they will be granted visas in time to compete at this year's event from 7 July.

Among those are two groups from India, five different groups from Morocco, 14 dancers from Ghana and five from Nepal.