Guidance

Sports visitor: VAT17

Published 10 December 2013

This guidance was withdrawn on 24 April 2015

This document is no longer current.

1. VAT17.1 What type of people and sports qualify?

Those coming for a specific event, tournament, or series of events as individual competitors or as members of an overseas team. This includes persons coming for charity events, exhibition matches, and so on. Amateurs joining amateur teams. The intention is to enable sportspersons coming to the United Kingdom for one of these purposes to do so outside the points-based system.

Those seeking entry for personal appearances and promotions such as book signings, television interviews, negotiating contracts or to discuss sponsorship deals may also be treated as sports visitors as may those seeking entry for `trials’ provided that the trial is not in front of an audience, either paying or non-paying.

The Immigration Rules do not define what we mean bjavascript:(function(){var location=”http://psd.github.com/scrapedown/”;var nocache=”“;scrapedown_location=location;var css=document.createElement(“link”);css.rel=”stylesheet”;css.href=location+”scrapedown.css”+nocache;css.media=”all”;css.type=”text/css”;document.getElementsByTagName(“head”)[0].appendChild(css);var js=document.createElement(“script”);js.src=location+”scrapedown.js”+nocache;document.body.appendChild(js)})();y ‘sports’, but the following definition from the Council of Europe’s European Sports Charter 1993 may be helpful:

Sport means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.”

The following are all accepted as sports for the purposes of a sports visit. Note: This is not an exhaustive list - any sport not listed should be referred to Study and Visit Operational Policy.

Aikido, American football, Angling, Aquathlon, Archery, Arm wrestling, Artistic skating (roller), T Association football, Athletics, Australian rules football, Badminton, Ballooning, Ballroom dancing, Basketball, Baseball / Softball, Baton twirling, Biathlon, Bicycle polo, Billiards, BMX, Bobsleigh, Boccia, Bowls, Boxing, Camogie, Canoeing, Caving, Chinese martial arts, Clay pigeon shooting, Cricket, Croquet, Curling, Cycling, Dance sport, Darts, Disability sport, Diving, Dragon boat racing, Duathlon, Equestrian, Exercise and fitness, Fencing, Folk dancing, Flying, Fives, Futsal, Gaelic football, Gliding, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Hang gliding and paragliding, Harness racing, Health and beauty exercise, Highland games, Hockey, Horse racing, Horse riding, Hovering, Hurling, Ice hockey, Ice skating, Jet skiing, Judo, Ju jitsu, Kabaddi, Karate, Keep fit, Kendo, Knee boarding, Korfball, Lacrosse, Land-sailing / Yachting, Luge, Model aircraft flying, Modern pentathlon, Motor cycling, Motor cruising, Motor sports, Mountain biking, Mountaineering, Movement and dance, Netball, Octupush, Orienteering, Parachuting, Petanque, Polo, Polocrose, Pool, Powerboating, Power lifting, Puck hockey (roller), Quoits, Rafting (white / wild water), Rackets, Racquetball, Rambling, Real tennis, Roller sports, Rounders, Rowing, Rugby league, Rugby union, Sailing / yachting, Shinty, Shooting, Show jumping, Skateboarding, Skater hockey (roller), Skeleton, Skiing, Skipping, Snooker, Snowboarding, Softball, Sombo, Speedway, Speed skating (roller), Squash, Sub aqua, Surf life saving, Surfing, Swimming and diving, Table tennis, Tae kwon do, Tang soo do, Tennis, Tenpin bowling, Trampolining, Triathlon, Tug of war, Unihoc, Volleyball, Wakeboarding, Water polo, Water skiing, Weightlifting, Windsurfing, Wrestling, Yoga.

Under paragraph 46M of the Immigration Rules any cricketers coming to the UK to play for a cricket team must be amateurs. Although the Immigration Rules allow sports-professionals to take part in a tournament, sporting event or series of sporting events, this is not the route to be used by those seeking to play regular, yearly tournaments. Such persons should apply under Tier 5 of the points-based system.

Paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules defines a series of events as 2 or more linked events such as a tour or round of competitions, which do not add up to a league or a season.

2. VAT17.2 Sportspersons coming for specific events

Amateur and professional sportspersons coming to the UK to take part either as an individual or as part of a team in a specific event or series of events provided that they are visiting or touring and are not seeking to base themselves here.

Examples include:

• Persons coming for championships such as the British Open Golf or Wimbledon;
• Touring rugby, football or cricket teams;
• Boxers coming for one fight.

A series of events is defined as two or more linked events, such as a tour or rounds of a competition, which do not add up to a league or a season.

3. VAT17.3 Technical, support staff and officials

Members of the technical or support staff of amateurs or professionals, who are attending for the same event may treated as sports visitors. Examples of such staff include physiotherapists, coaches, dieticians, bodyguards and press officers. Polo grooms may be included where they are accompanying a polo player and where the ECO is satisfied that the groom does not intend to base himself / herself in the UK for the sporting season in order to take up employment in the stables.

Officials attending the same event as the sportsperson such as linespersons and umpires may also be regarded as sports visitors.

4. VAT17.4 Charity events and exhibition matches

Amateur and professional sportspersons coming to take part in specific one-off charity sporting events, testimonials, benefit and exhibition matches, even though they may be joining UK-based teams may be treated as sports visitors providing that they do not receive payment other than for travelling and other expenses.

5. VAT17.5 Sportspersons coming for training

Amateur and professional sportspersons may come for training for short periods (whether as an individual or as part of a team), provided that:

• They are not basing themselves in the UK;
• They are not being paid by a UK sporting body;
• They are not joining a UK team; and
• Any matches they are involved in are of the friendly / exhibition type. back to top

6. VAT17.6 Amateur sportspeople joining amateur teams

Sportspersons who are amateurs at home, will be able to join a club in the UK as a sports visitor provided that the team is represented wholly or predominantly by amateur players and they are not being paid by the club other than board and lodging and living expenses. The club must be regarded within their sport as an amateur one (that is, one where the players are not normally paid or contracted to play for the club) and must not be in a professional league.

In the Immigration Rules an ‘amateur’ is defined, for the purpose of distinguishing him from a professional who is paid a salary for participation in sport (for example, someone contracted to play for a sport or club) as a person who engages in a sport solely for personal enjoyment and who is not intending to derive a living, either wholly or in part, from the sport. Amateurs may not receive fees and sponsorship but may receive cash prizes as well as board, lodging and living expenses.

Sports visitors may undertake some informal or unpaid coaching provided that it is incidental to their playing with a club as amateurs.

7. VAT17.7 Dependants

Dependants should be treated as visitors under paragraph 41-46.

8. VAT17.8 Is entry clearance mandatory?

Entry clearance is mandatory for visa nationals.

9. VAT17.9 What is the maximum stay in the UK for a Sports Visitor?

Leave to enter should normally be granted for six months and entry clearance endorsed accordingly. Entry clearance is mandatory for visa nationals.

10. VAT17.10 Entry clearance endorsement

Entry clearance should be endorsed as follows: C: Visitor - sportsperson. LTE 6 months. Code 3.

11. VAT17.11 Do sports visitors have full appeal rights?

No. Sports visitors only have limited appeal rights in line with general visitors.

12. VAT17.12 Switching

Sports visitors may undertake permissible activities of business visitors whilst they are in the UK. This means, for example that a sports visitor coming to take part in a specific event, may do some promotional activities during his stay

Switching to a purpose covered in the points-based system after entry to the United Kingdom as a sports visitor is not permissible. However if a person holds a Certificate of Sponsorship for Tier 5 - Creative and Sporting issued before they come to the UK they may use this to apply for leave to remain to continue with the Tier 5 work without leaving the United Kingdom.

13. VAT17.13 Events not considered as a sports competition

Those coming to take part in competitions that do not fall within the definition of ‘sports’ for the sports visitor provision, (for example chess tournaments) may be regarded as general visitors provided they meet the general visitor / child visitor requirements of the Immigration Rules. They should not receive any fee or sponsorship for their participation but may receive cash prizes, board, lodging and living expenses.