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Visas: US Methodist Ministers

Answer

No applications have in fact been received this year from Methodist probationers from the United States. Those non-EEA nationals seeking to come to the UK to preach and perform pastoral duties in the UK are considered under the immigration rules for ministers of religion. It is a long-standing requirement of this category that, where relevant, applicants are ordained. Under the current system, probationers who are not ordained would be refused entry to work as ministers of religion. The Government are keen to replace the requirement for ordination with a more flexible pre-entry qualification requirement. On 19 December last year, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality (Tony McNulty) made a Written Ministerial Statement announcing the Home Office response to the second stage of consultation with faith communities on the immigration provisions for religious workers from abroad (Official Report, cols. WS 162-63). He announced then that we would aim to move to a pre-entry qualification requirement. We have offered to implement this pre-entry qualification requirement early. In order to do this, we need the Christian Churches to establish how they will assess whether each applicant is suitably qualified, and we will be working further with them on this. This offer equally applies to other faith groups who develop their own pre-entry qualification requirements to replace the current ordination requirement.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

6021; 683 c22-3WA

Session

2005-06

Related items

Ministers of Religion from Abroad
Monday, 19 December 2005
Written statements
House of Commons

Subjects

Immigration controls Entry clearances Ministers of religion Training USA Methodist Church

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk