British authorities have denied a visa to Kazakhstan’s armless artist Karipbek Kuyukov requesting fingerprints from him, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the artist. The honorary envoy of Atom project Karipbek Kuyukov was planning to visit an anti-nuclear conference in Great Britain, but his plans failed over the fingerprints. “The trip to the international conference in Great Britain did not happen because I was denied a visa over fingerprints of insufficient quality. I was asked for additional fingerprints. Although I physically could not give them any fingerprints. My sister who was supposed to accompany me received a visa because they took her fingerprints. Why do they need fingerprints anyway?” Kuyukov said. He added that he went to the visa center in Almaty, where his face and side photos were taken. According to the artist, the pictures clearly showed that he was disabled. “The reason you are having this issue is the biometrics that were submitted with this application were of poor quality. Please get the Vac to do a totally new application with new GWF number and new biometrics making sure the biometrics are of good quality,” the extract of the letter on visa rejection is cited on Atom project page in Facebook . “We should have been in Great Britain on April 15, but the passports were sent back to us only in the end of April. We waited for the visas until the last moment. It was surprising for me. My exhibition is abroad and we have decided to keep it there to avoid additional transportation,” Kuyukov said. The artist added that he had no visa problems when he went to the U.S. in December 2012. “When I applied for the visa, they saw that I don’t have hands and didn’t say anything. And this situation in unclear. My next trip will be to Japan in August. We will be preparing for this trip in advance just in case,” Kuyukov said. Karipbek Kuyukov was born in 1968 not far from Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. He was born armless. He draws his paintings holding the brush in his mouth or toes. Kuyukov’s paintings are exhibited in state and private collections in the U.S., Germany and Japan.