※ 引述《new1130 (嘟嘴洋妞妞)》之銘言：
: 我拿到一筆美國基金會的錢，要去英國某個學術機構擔任博士後一年，
: 英國的機構說他們不是雇主（Employer），
: 所以只能提供一封信，說明我是自帶經費的訪問學者（Self-funded visiting scholar）
: ，並建議我向美國的基金會要求提供財力證明。
: 1. 請問我應該申請何種簽證？
: 是Standard Visitor (Academics coming to undertake research for 12 months)
: 還是另一種Skilled/temporary/high value workers (Tier 5 Work Visa)?
I replied neither in your original post because the two types of visa which
may be relevant are not correctly phrased.
Under the "academic visitor in excess of six months" route (a sub-category
of standard visitor), you need to remain paid and employed at an overseas
academic institution and currently working in the field of your expertise.
This route is suitable for acdemics on sabbatical leave from their home
institution.
"Skilled" (tier 2) and "high value" (tier 1) are irrelevant to your
situation. Tier 5 is a category for temporary migrant, and the
sub-category relevant to your situation is Tier 5 (Governmental Authorised
Exchange Worker). You need to have sponsorship from a licensed body which
administer an approved scheme. The requirements you need to meet will depend
on the approved scheme. Check Appendix N to the Immigration Rules for the
list of authorised exchange schemes, especially the "Sponsored researchers"
scheme.
: 2. 請問請美國的基金會開立財力證明需要什麼特定的格式或資訊嗎？
This is not really the point. The point is that the UK institution needs
to assist you to get a CoS (confirmation of sponsorship) from a licensed
body. The licensed body can be the higher education institution (if it has
tier 5 GAE licence) or (if it doesn't) an external organization which is
licensed. The specific information/format requirement for the
letter/certificate from the US foundation (if any) should be set by the
licensed body - and you need to ask them.
The thing is Tier 5(GAE) is relatively new and the UK immigration rules
and policies change frequently thanks to the xenophobic tory government.
Some universities now have a whole office or department dedicated to
compliance with the immigration rules, and I think this is crazy...
The faculty with which you're in contact might not know the relevant rules
or have no experience in such cases. So they just kick the visa problem back
to you.
You might want to tell them to seek advice from their personnel department
or even the international student office (if they have one), where there
may be someone who knows something about the immigration rules, about
the tier 5 (GAE).