Entertainer Visitor visa: documents

Hello,

I have an urgent question regarding the documents to be supplied as part of an Entertainor Visitor visa application:

I am organising an event at a university in London for a poet coming from Palestine. We have all the suggested documents (originals where possible, including letters from "sponsors" - who aren't sponsoring this trip financially, but have invited this poet to present events etc in the past and are aware of this next event in London).

However as I understand it the crucial piece for this application is the letter of invitation from the university:

Is an email acceptable, which confirms the nature and date of the event? The email address it is sent from is an official university address ie [name]@[university].ac.uk

The bulk of the correspondence surrounding this event has taken place online and via the telephone; we requested a faxed letter of invitation, but this unfortunately has not arrived and the applicant's appointment is tomorrow morning.

I would be very grateful for your input on this matter!

Hello,

I have an urgent question regarding the documents to be supplied as part of an Entertainor Visitor visa application:

I am organising an event at a university in London for a poet coming from Palestine. We have all the suggested documents (originals where possible, including letters from "sponsors" - who aren't sponsoring this trip financially, but have invited this poet to present events etc in the past and are aware of this next event in London).

However as I understand it the crucial piece for this application is the letter of invitation from the university:

Is an email acceptable, which confirms the nature and date of the event? The email address it is sent from is an official university address ie [name]@[university].ac.uk

The bulk of the correspondence surrounding this event has taken place online and via the telephone; we requested a faxed letter of invitation, but this unfortunately has not arrived and the applicant's appointment is tomorrow morning.

I would be very grateful for your input on this matter!

Is the entertainer / poet going to be paid? If that is a yes you can not use the entertainer visitor visa. They would need to come on a PBS visa.

As for evidence of sponsorship., given the country you will need more than a couple of emails to support the application. The application process from that country is pretty searching and if your poet has never left the country before then they will be questioned in detail and all supporting documents examined carefully.
The balance of probability measure used is very strict given the country circumstances.

Thanks, Frontier Mole!

It is an unpaid event, so I presume the Entertainer Visitor visa is appropriate - though I did worry at one point since the description of a "cultural" event does appear to be more music-oriented.

He had the appointment this morning and wasn't questioned at all, just told he could submit the tardy letter via email at amman.visacasework@fco.gov.uk

Is the fact he wasn't questioned a bad sign? He has travelled out of the country on a couple of occasions previously for similar events.

Looks like he will get the visa. The fact that he has travelled before and returned is a massive point in his favour. Hence little to be gained questioning his travel to UK when he has travelled to other countries before.
Send the email and wait for the decision is all you can do.

Wonderful, thanks for the pointer!

Does this person qualify for ent visitor visa? Are they an amateur? If not they might not qualify and they might need a Tier 5 CoS.

Are they a professional poet?
Are they being paid for the recital?
Is it indeed a recital - what is the nature of the event?

If he's a professional then the ent visitor visa might not be appropriate. It's meant for some festivals, for amateur entertainers (school choirs, community bands, am-dram etc), and to cover charity shows.

If he was being paid you could have gone PPE. Or issued a Tier 5 CoS (if you have a licence or go to a 3rd party with a licence).