For the Catholic equivalent, see Canonical visitation, and for other uses, see Visitor A Visitor, in United Kingdom law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution (i.e., a charitable institution set up for the perpetual distribution of the founder's alms and bounty), who can intervene in the internal affairs of that institution. These institutions usually comprise cathedrals, chapels, colleges, universities and hospitals.The British sovereign, the Lor