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Written question asked by Lord Godson (Conservative) on Wednesday, 23 July 2025, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 6 August 2025. It was answered by Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour) on Monday, 4 August 2025 on behalf of the Home Office.

Visas: Iran

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) religious worker visas, and (2) minister of religion visas, have been issued to Iranians since March 2023; who those visas were issued to; and what plans they have, if any, to review that visa system.

Answer

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa type and nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on GOV.UK. Data on outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of March 2025.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ on GOV.UK.

The data shows that 1 Religious Worker (RW) and 1 Minister Of Religion (MOR) visa have been issued since July 2024 with a total of 1 RW and 3 MOR visas issued since March 2023. For GDPR reasons, we cannot reveal the identity of the visa holders.

The Home Office keeps all immigration routes under review, including the T2 Minister of Religion and Temporary Work – Religious Worker routes.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL9811
Session
2024-26
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Visas Iran Ministers of religion Religious persons
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk