Whenever your business has to host business visitors from abroad, you must write a business visa letter of invitation. These visitors can be your existing or potential buyers, existing or intending investors, trade show or conference visitors, foreign partners or agents, foreign employees, or individuals coming for on-site training at your company’s facilities.
Your letter of invitation is meant to clearly communicate the motives and planned activities of the visit. It will also declare the applicant’s plans to return to their country at the end of their visit. But you must bear in mind that a letter of invitation does is no guarantee that your visitor’s business visa will be approved. However, not writing one will certainly have the visitor’s visa disapproved, since the letter is always a prerequisite for business visitors.
If your company is inviting a visitor for business purposes, you or another representative of your company must write the letter of invitation for the visitor. You should send the visitor two original copies of the letter—one for them to submit when applying for their visa, and the other to present when they enter your country.
How well you craft your business visa letter of invitation can determine to a good extent whether your visitor’s visa will be approved or not (although, visa applicants will look at other factors, such as whether the applicant is eligible to visit your country). So, it’s you need to know how to write compelling letters of business invitation. Here are the general guidelines for writing a business visa letter of invitation.
How to Write a Business Visa Invitation Letter – Sample Template
1. Address correctly-: Your business visa invitation letter will be rejected if it’s addressed wrongly. Most embassies or high commissions will not pardon even a spelling mistake in the address, so you need to get it right. Before drafting your letter, visit the official website of your country’s embassy in that visitor’s country to get the correct address to which such letters should be directed.
In addition, you must also use the appropriate greeting. If you know the name of the consular officer who will receive the letter, you can include it. But if you don’t know the name of the likely recipient, a simple greeting like, “Dear Consular Officer” will suffice.
2. State the visitor’s name and position-: You must clearly state the name of the visitor requesting the business visit visa exactly how it appears on their passport. To avoid errors, double check with the visitor before drafting your letter. Note that there must be consistency across all documentation. For example, if the visitor’s surname comes first in all their credentials, write their surname first in your letter to avoid confusion.
3. State the visitor’s position and other relevant information-: In your business visa invitation letter, you should also state the visitor’s title, the name of the company they represent, their position in that company, and their relationship to your company.
Depending on the demands of the recipient, you may have to include the visitor’s date of birth, city, country of birth, passport number, marital status and other personal details. In any case, include the full contact details of the visitor because the Consular Office might want to contact them directly for some questioning.
4. State the purpose and duration of the visit-: Your business visa invitation letter must also include the purpose for which you are inviting the visitor as well as how long they will spend in your country before going back to their home country.
Also, you need to state the visitor’s intention to leave your country as soon as the purpose of the visit is achieved. To convince the recipient about these, you need to mention all the visitor’s commitments in their home country that will prompt them to leave immediately after they have achieved the purpose of their visit.
5. State who will cover the expenses-: In your letter, you should also state whether you or the visitor will cover the visitor’s travel and related expenses. If you are to cover the expenses, you might be requested to provide the evidence of funds to cover the expenses, such as a bank statement.
After including all the important pieces of information, state in the last paragraph that you can be contacted for any clarifications. And include your contact information. Round up your letter with “Sincerely” or another acceptable closing; then follow that with your signature, name, and position in the company your represent.
Once again, remember that an invitation letter is not a required document but it does offer documentary evidence supporting the case for visa issuance and may ease the visa application process.