London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Specialist volunteers and other accredited people (except athletes, coaches, officials and media)
This page explains what you need to do if you want to come to the UK to participate in the London 2012 Olympic or Paralympic Games as an accredited specialist volunteer or other accredited person in accreditation category codes OCOG, S or X.
(If you are an accredited athlete, coach, official or media representative, see the Games family members pages.)
Your immigration route to the UK will depend on:
- the length of your stay;
- whether you will be doing paid work while you are in the UK; and
- whether you are a national of a country who normally needs to obtain a visa before travelling to the UK (known as a 'visa national'). To find out whether you are a visa national, see 'More information' below.
The table below shows the appropriate immigration routes.
| Doing paid work while in the UK | Not doing paid work while in the UK | |
|---|---|---|
| Visa national | Apply for a visa under an appropriate tier of the points-based system. See the Working in the UK section. | Apply for an Olympic/Paralympic Games visit visa or another appropriate visit visa. |
| Non-visa national | Apply for a visa under an appropriate tier of the points-based system. See the Working in the UK section. | If you will stay in the UK for less than 6 months, seek entry at the UK border as a sports visitor. If you will stay for longer than 6 months, apply for an Olympic/Paralympic Games visit visa or another appropriate visit visa. |
To find out what you can and cannot bring into the UK, see the Customs section.
More information
-
Are you a visa national?
Nationals or citizens of the following countries and territorial entities are known as 'visa nationals':
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Burkina Faso
- Burma
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- People's Republic of China (unless they hold a passport issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or Macao Special Administrative Region)
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Congo
- Cuba
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ivory Coast
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Korea (North)
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Macau
- Macedonia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Nepal
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palestinian Territories
- Peru
- Philippines
- Qatar
- Russia
- Rwanda
- Sao Tome e Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Surinam
- Swaziland
- Syria
- Taiwan (unless they hold a Taiwan passport which includes the number of the identification card issued by the competent authority in Taiwan)
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- Uzbekistan
- Vatican City
- Venezuela (unless they hold a Venezuelan passport which contains biometric information held in an electronic chip)
- Vietnam
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- The territories formerly comprising the socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia