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Is it bei ihrem Besuch or an ihrem Besuch?

For context the full sentence is:

Bei/an ihrem Besuch war {name} verschwunden.

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It is

bei ihrem Besuch

"an ihrem Besuch" is wrong. The reason is that "an" (plus Dativ) describes a certain point in time:

am (=an dem) 13. des Monats ...
an jenem Tag ....

The "Besuch" (visit), on the other hand, is - grammatically - not a point in time, but an occasion. Such an occasion happens at a point in time but isn't one itself. "Bei", though, is such an occasion: something happens (her visit) and, while this something occurs, something else also takes place:

Bei ihrem Besuch wurde gegessen.

While the visit took place, also some eating took place - but this only describes the timely relation between these occurences, not a point in time.

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    +1. In addition, one may note that there are expressions to convert the occasion talk into time-point talk, such as "zum Zeitpunkt ihres Besuchs". However, even here, the choice of preposition is determined by the converting expression itself: "zum Zeitpunkt" requires "zum" while, say, "am Tag ihres Besuchs" requires "am".
    – marquinho
    Commented Jun 5 at 11:45
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Bei ihrem Besuch sounds far more natural to me.

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