Hi seamail, I'm also an anthro UK person and got offers everywhere i applied. I actually had a conversation with a professor specifically about this issue of fieldwork and my intuition is that yes, it is an extremely significant aspect of anthropology that cannot be overlooked and that many people feel sets anthropology apart from other social sciences, giving it its unique focus. However, the idea of what a 'field' is, is very much contested and up for grabs at the moment and you might think about playing with this contestation in your research and applications. It does sound from your post that your interests are quite sociological/pol science. Perhaps you need to think through what your 'field' could be and how it would give a unique 'anthropological' slant to your research. Personally, I am all about challenging the notion of the 'field' but not necessarily challenging the idea of 'fieldwork', which is why I ultimately went for an anthro dept over a sociology one. I've got a masters from the UK and feel that this put me in good standing with my apps (many profs also told me that UK anthro students are thought of as good applicants). I'd be really interested to hear more about your thoughts and experiences, so will post this privately to you and set up some communication, if that's ok.