PPE Visitors do not require a Certificate of Sponsorship from the University but will require a formal letter of invitation from the University to be able to enter the UK under this route, whether they are applying for a visa in advance of travelling to the UK or for ‘leave to enter’ at their UK port of entry. Visitors will also be required to satisfy Immigration Officers that the pre-arranged engagement relates to their area of expertise and/or qualifications and to their occupation overseas.
Who can come to the University as a PPE Visitor?
Only the following groups of individuals are able to come to the University under the Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE) Standard Visitor Visa route to undertake one or more of the following paid activities:
- Visiting lecturers – lecturers invited to give one or a short series of paid lectures in their field of expertise, as long as this is not a part-time or full-time role
- Visiting examiners or assessors – academics who are highly qualified in their field of expertise to examine students or participate in and/or chair a selection panel as part of the institution’s quality assurance processes;
The paid engagement must relate to the individual’s area of expertise and/or qualifications and must relate to their main occupation overseas.
Right to work checks
For the purposes of the Visit Visa rules, these engagements are not treated as work or employment in the UK. You are not therefore required to undertake an official right to work check. However, we do advise departments to retain local copies of the visa and passport pages, along with evidence of the date of arrival which could be an entry stamp, boarding pass, flight ticket etc. There is no specified evidence to demonstrate the date of arrival.
Departments should retain this evidence for two years following the PPE to ensure that we can provide this to the Home Office if required.
Guidance
https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/paid-engagement-event
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