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Immigration Regulations & Visa Applications

November 2008. The rules regarding the granting of entry visas to Ministers of Religion (in the case of most Buddhist organisations, missionary monks) have changed. All non EU nationals are now subject to the same points system

 


Quoting from the UK Border Agency website (link in their logo above):

"28 October 2008. Today Phil Woolas, Minister of State for borders and immigration, announced the go live date for tiers 2 and 5 of the points-based system. Tier 2, relates to skilled workers, replaces the current work permit scheme.......
From 27 November 2008 employers wishing to bring non-European Economic Area migrants to the United Kingdom under tier 2....will need to be a licensed sponsor. Sponsors will be responsible for issuing certificates of sponsorship to migrants and ensuring that their sponsor obligations are fulfilled. Migrants can then use the certificate of sponsorship to apply for entry clearance.
If you have not yet applied for a sponsor's licence and wish to bring in migrants under tier 2.....you need to apply for your licence as soon as possible."

Tier 2 includes Ministers Of Religion. Even though the question of 'paid employment' is not applicable, organisations that invite Missionary Monks are classified as Employers for this purpose,

This page is intended to offer guidance to NBO members (and to anybody else who has arrived here) in this rather complex process which at first glance seems as daunting as setting out on the eightfold path.

I (your webmaster) am not making this page entirely out of the goodness of my heart, as I'm embarking on the licensing process on behalf of my own organisation (the Buddhavihara Temple in Staffordshire) I don't lay any claim to have expert knowledge, so what you will get here is a laymans account of jumping through the many hoops to be negotiated. I will update my progress (or otherwise) from time to time, so keep looking.

I will ask Yann & Gina (who are our experts on the legislation of this subject) to keep an eye on the page to make sure I don't put out any misleading information.

First, a couple of PDF** files sent to my by Yann as a result of his representing the NBO at the Interfaith Network
Guidance notes from the IFN on Ministers of Religion
Revised notes pertaining to Religious Workers (Tier 5)
Guidance notes from the UK Border Agency (Ministers of Religion)
Guidance notes from the UK Border Agency. Full version 158 pp 1.4Mb
Consultation Meeting with the Border & Immigration Agency, London, 25/04/07
Follow this link for a report by Yann & Gina (NBO Activities Cttee legal eagle)
These pages have been on the NBO site for several years now, and so much of the information in the downloads available from them will be out of date in light of current legislation. They are included here simply as an archive
Follow this link for documents put out by the Home Office
Follow this link for documents put out by the Immigration Service
An account of my application to become a licensed sponsor...an ongoing saga

The very first thing that strikes me on looking round the Border Agency Website is that, like many government websites, it is full of internal links, so following a path to get at what I really need to know isn't easy as navigation around the site is not at all obvious. I guess the information is all in there somewhere. The site is a microcosm of what is said about the internet in general 'There's nothing you can't find out if you know where to look!'

The next thing is that following the checklist 'to test whether we are ready to apply for a sponsor licence' immediately brings out the message that all sponsoring bodies are lumped together under the general heading of an 'employer' ~ furthermore, an employer that has an 'HR Department' as frequent refernces are made to such. I can see this being a problem not just for organisations such as ourselves, but for any small business wishing to import a skilled worker (the umbrella definition of Tier 2)

There is a fee of £300 for the application, which is non-returnable if the application fails, so it's important to get it right.

The first hoop therefore is to create our own HR department within the Temple. There is no point in copying all the Border Agency material here, as I would end up duplicating their site, but suffice to say that I have read so far:

  • you must be a genuine organisation or sole trader operating legally in the United Kingdom. OK, no problem
  • there must be no evidence that you are a threat to immigration control (we look at the history and background of your organisation and key personnel). I sincerely hope not
  • you must nominate a level 1 user, a key contact and an authorising officer. I guess they mean me
  • you must be able to comply with your sponsor duties (we look at your processes like your HR systems to make sure you can carry out your duties). So we need to have HR systems in place ~ this could be tricky.
  • you must send all your supporting documents when applying. Discovering what these are is my next hoop
  • you must meet the additional requirements for the tier and category you are applying under. Ditto
 

The download at the top of this page Guidance notes from the UK Border Agency Ministers of Religion is but a short extract out of the full set of guidelines, a 158pp document which is the download at the bottom of the list.

18th Dec 2008 Beware, as these guidelines seem to change with alarming rapidity. For example (and most relevant) in Tier 5, a religious workers duties 'may now include preaching, pastoral and non-pastoral work', whereas previously (all of three weeks ago) Tier 5 refers to 'visiting religious workers who have a non pastoral role'

As the new guidelines are 25pp longer, the following page numbering may not apply

The appendix it refers to is itself 50 pp long, but to save you time, the relevant bits are:

  • Appendix A ~ For Charities: pp 84 - 87
  • Appendix A ~ For Religious/Faith Bodies: pp 87 - 91

In fact the only relevant bits are as above, plus Appendix D ~ pp 125 -129 which is about keeping documents. You can throw the rest away. I have (optimistically) thrown away the whole of appendix B & C which outlines all the offences one can commit if you or your monks get it wrong!

Next job. Decide which bit to follow, as we are a registered charity and a religious body.

OK, now throw away pp 84 - 87 as this refers to Charities in general who may also be a religious organisation. However, it would seem to add weight to an application as a religious body if you are a registered charity ~ in fact it says "Charities who are not registered according to the relevant charity legislation must explain the reason for non-registration along with their application for a sponsor licence".

Appendix A: pp 87 - 91 tells you what documents to submit with your application. There has to be a minimum of four documents. I will be submitting as follows:

  1. "Where there is a set hierarchy within the faith the sponsoring body must submit a letter of support from the head of that organisation (or their nominated person) to confirm that the sponsor is part of
    that organisation. This document is mandatory for any organisation seeking to bring in a Religious Worker under Tier 2 or Tier 5, where there is such a hierarchy."
  2. Background information as detailed on p 89 of the guidelines This document is mandatory for any organisation seeking to bring in a Religious Worker under Tier 2 or Tier 5
  3. Proof of registration as a Charity.
  4. Proof ownership/lease of premises
  5. Form 76 ~ effectively the authorisation from the General Register Office to conduct marriage ceremonies.
  6. Our Public Liability Insurance

So far so good, and quite straightforward. The next step is to fill out the actual application form, which I'm sure is not going to be quite so easy.

I thought as much ~ this is where it gets difficult. The application is done on-line, and you can't go to the next step until you have completed a page correctly.

The first page is easy ~ simply tick the box that says 'Minister of Religion' Unfortunately, subsequent pages still assume the applicant for a sponsor licence is a trading company.
For example, in the section 'Organisation - Step 3 of 4' one has to specify 'the sector your organisation works in'
The drop-down menu offers a huge range of commercial activities, none of which remotely fits. A phone call to the (very helpful) helpline produced the correct answer, which is "Activities of Membership Organisations" ~ obvious really.

Later on, in spite of reading the guidelines to produce what I thought was the list of four required documents (as above), the page Supporting documents - Step 1 of 1 wouldn't let me proceed until I had ticked four boxes, and I was hard pressed to be able to do so. In fact, if you aren't a registered charity, don't have audited annual accounts, don't hold public liability and don't own or lease your own premises, you could be a bit pushed to find four boxes to tick.

Items 1 & 2 in my list above are mandatory, but not counted in the four required documents, they are required in addition to them. Still with me?

You can save the part completed form while you go away and have a lie down in a dark room. I'm currently trying to pluck up enough courage to click the 'Submit' button, at which point I will have to pay my £300

**These documents are Acrobat files: if you don't have Acrobat reader, click the button below (it's free to download)