My colleagues and I are traveling to the UK as delegates in an event, and the company is paying for all travel expenses. We have our 6 payment slips, and 6 months bank statement from the company. Do we also have to provide our personal bank statements?
-
10Where are you originating from? Certain countries require no such documentation.– Pete B.Commented Aug 27 at 13:58
-
8And event is a bit generic. Do you mean an expo, or a trade event? Or a company event (training, or to meet UK workers, etc.). Has your company offices also in UK? Etc. Immigration want to asses the probability any of you will illegally stay (and/or work) but to assess it, it depends on many facts we do not know.– Giacomo CatenazziCommented Aug 27 at 14:15
-
18If your company is paying all the expenses then they shouldn't have much trouble paying an immigration lawyer to list the documents you will need, and, if you need to apply for a visa, to explain which visa is needed and to manage the applications.– phoogCommented Aug 27 at 14:24
-
Have you seen the wizard on the UK Immigration page? gov.uk/check-uk-visa This should tell you the correct visa you need, and that page should have the information on the visa application process– Agnishom ChattopadhyayCommented Aug 28 at 15:00
-
If you are asking "what documents are required for a visa application", then why did you not use the words "visa application" anywhere in your question. Make sure you include all relevant details in your question. Don't make people guess what you are asking.– JK.Commented Aug 28 at 20:55
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
Obviously that depends a lot on your citizenship, the country where you are employed and what country you are originating from (which you didn't include in the question).
As a general rule of thumb: if you are travelling on behalf of your employer, your employer should handle the Visa paperwork as well. So let your travel, HR, or legal department handle it. They may need your help (filling out forms, signatures, photos, etc.) but they should drive the process and make sure all requirements are met.
-
4I worked for a multi national company and travelled fairly extensively on business. Not once did the HR, legal, or travel team assist me with visa formalities. I suspect that many employers limit that kind of assistance to their high-ranking employees. Commented Aug 27 at 15:26
-
10@Traveller: Interesting. I certainly had different experiences (despite not being high ranking). Most larger companies have travel departments that manages hotel, flights, car rental, expenses. Most of this farmed out to the 3rd party (like Concur, Amex, etc). These also offer Visa services as well. If you are sending 100s of people to China per year, it doesn't really make sense to have each person figure this out by themselves (and potentially getting it wrong in the process).– HilmarCommented Aug 27 at 15:39
-
1@Traveller same here, multiple travels, multiple visas, never had to deal with anything myself other than showing up for an interview once. Commented Aug 27 at 20:55
-
Only once I had to deal with such a case. They handled it all. I just had to show up and submit my passport. Commented Aug 28 at 7:38
-
I also once worked for a multi national company and travelled fairly extensively on business. They always took care of all this for me. Commented Aug 28 at 9:39
TL:DR If I were you, I would submit all of the supporting evidence available to you, including personal statements. As explained in this question, personal bank statements help the Entry Clearance Officer understand the applicant's personal circumstances.
AFAIK, it is not mandatory to submit personal bank statements when a business trip is being fully sponsored by the employer. However, notwithstanding the existence of a sponsor, the applicant must still demonstrate that they personally meet the eligibility criteria and are a genuine visitor. The sponsor must prove the availability of sufficient funds. If your employer is, let’s say, a large corporate business, that will be easier to do than if you’re employed by a small business/one man band with tenuous business links to the UK.
The Guide to supporting documents says in the section Demonstrating personal circumstances
It is recommended that you provide information about your circumstances in your home country and details of the activity that you will be doing in the UK.
