Britain has welcomed Turkish transgender drag queens on special visas for “global talent”, The Telegraph can reveal.

The “Global Talent visa” permits recipients to stay in the UK for five years along with their dependents, and is intended to bring the very best creatives to the country.

Applicants must have their claimed artist merit endorsed by the Arts Council before visas are ultimately signed off by the Home Office.

The Telegraph has learned that transgender drag queens are among the talents welcomed to Britain, along with Nigerian rappers and poets who now have platforms offering advice on how to obtain UK visas.

Singers in African evangelical churches have been granted global talent visas to come to Britain, where they now sing in local African evangelical churches.

Examples of the global talents who have come to the UK have emerged amid growing debate about the visa route for creatives, and a 178 per cent increase in annual applications since 2019.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has called for an “urgent” review of the “obviously nonsensical” visa route.

One of those who has received a coveted arts visa is Kübra Uzun, a transgender drag artist and “LGBTQIA+ rights activist” from Istanbul, who goes by the stage name of Q-BRA.