Soprano Erika Baikoff has been denied the right to make Britain her home.

In a recent interview with the Telegraph, the US-Russian singer revealed that her application to settle in the UK five years after being granted her visa in 2019 has been rejected because Home Office officials said she has not spent enough time in Britain to justify it.

According to visa rules, “a visa holder should not spend more than 180 days in any 12-month period outside the UK but academics and researchers are exempt.”

As a result, Baikoff will challenge the decision as she noted that her career as an opera singer is international. In her appeal, She noted that following the pandemic opportunities in the UK were “decimated,” and had no option but to travel to earn money and progress her career as a rising star.

According to the article, the soprano decided to settle in the UK after graduating with a master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music in 2018 and took advantage of the global talent visa which allows internationally-recognized artists, academics, and tech inventors to remain in the UK for five years.

According to the Telegraph, “the singer and her legal advisers say her plight has exposed a flaw in the Government’s drive to attract the brightest and best whereby academics, but not artists or musicians, are allowed to spend time overseas without damaging their visa claims.”

Baikoff recently won a position at the Metropolitan Opera’s young artist development program and has performed at the Opéra de Lyon. This season she is set to debut with the London Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, and Ciclo de Lied.