Intern Visa Process

Visa Summary

All CIEE students require a visa to enter the country and complete an internship in London. There are two main types of visas offered to CIEE students, the Student Visa and Government Authorised Exchange visa.

Student Visa

The sponsor for a Student visa is CIEE. The student visa is a part-time internship, whereby the students complete a combination of classes and an internship simultaneously.

Students complete a maximum of 20 hours per week during term time (e.g. September to May); however, the hours may be higher if students are arriving during the summer period.

Host Company Requirements:

  • As the Student Visa Sponsor, CIEE requests all companies to provide a job profile to the internship team, prior to the student starting.

  • Supervisors must sign an internship agreement.

  • CIEE requests all companies to provide an attendance report at the end of the student’s internship

  • Supervisors must complete a CIEE evaluation at the end of the programme. The evaluation is required as part of the student’s overall grading.

Student Visa : Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Government Authorized Exchange Visa

The sponsor for a Government Authorised Exchange visa is BUNAC. The Government Authorised Exchange visa is a full-time internship, between 25-35 hours per week. The estimated processing time for this visa is 8-10 weeks.

GAE Visa Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Host Company Requirements:

  • The company must provide a detailed training plan (Employment Application and Agreement) to BUNAC for approval

  • The internship is supernumerary (not a role) and clearly an educational experience. This means the presence of an intern must not harm the resident labour market.

  • Interns must not fill vacancies in the UK work force and must undertake projects that are additional to the employer's normal staffing requirements.

  • The company must be a registered UK company that will have at least 5 full time employees for every 1 intern.

  • Tasks set to the interns reach an NVQ level 3 or above. This means the intern will be taking on more complex activities rather than primarily routine daily tasks.

  • Maximum 6 months in duration. Minimum of 25 hours per week

Employment Application and Agreement

The structure of a training plan is entirely at the discretion of the internship supervisor and will depend on the nature of the internship. It may be split into weeks, months, projects, detailing what the intern will be involved with. The company can provide a clear structure of the intern’s schedule (e.g. week by week), showing rotation around departments if applicable (this can depend on the nature of the company and internship ideas). The plan can provide information of any specific objectives, projects set to the intern, details of supervision, shadowing opportunities, and more. BUNAC requires a full understanding of what the intern will be involved with in order to ascertain that the internship is at the required level for visa sponsorship.

Completing the Form:

An EAA link will be sent to you either by the CIEE student or the CIEE Internship Team. The form will request the following information.

  • Full Name of the Intern Placement Company (If Applicable)

  • Has your company hosted an intern through BUNAC sponsorship before? (Yes/No)

  • Company Name

  • Companies House

  • Registration Number (Your company must be registered with Companies House, if not please provide further information)

  • Company Address: Address the intern is located at (if different from the above address)

  • Company Telephone Number

  • Company Website

  • Number of full-time staff working at the location Total number of interns present during this internship period (Please note that in most circumstances BUNAC requires there to be a full-time staff-to-intern ratio of 5:1)

  • Supervisor's full name, position, contact number and email

  • A second contact person's details (if different to the main supervisor, someone who knows about the internship and training plan in case the main contact is unavailable to speak with)

  • Name of the internship (e.g Marketing Internship)

  • Internship start and end date (The duration must not exceed 180 days / 6 months)

  • Number of Hours per week (Interns must work a minimum of 25 hours per week and not exceed 40 hours per week)

  • Remuneration in GBP (Paid internships must meet UK National Minimum Wage requirements. If unpaid put '0')

  • Remuneration frequency (Hourly or Yearly Pro-Rata)

  • BUNAC Screening

Once the EAA is submitted, BUNAC may complete additional screening by calling the company for further details or completing an on-site visit.