Eligibility

This page explains the requirements you must meet if you wish to apply to come to the United Kingdom to work as a minister of religion, missionary or member of religious order.

To qualify to come to the United Kingdom as a minister of religion, you must show that you have been:

• working for at least one year in the past five years, as a minister of religion; or
• ordained after training for the ministry - the training must be at least one year full-time or two years part-time.

To qualify to come to work as a missionary you must show that you have either worked as a missionary or that you have been trained as a missionary.

To come to live here with a religious order you must show that the community is maintained by that order and if you are undertaking any teaching, it is only at an establishment maintained by that order.

You must also:

• prove that you plan to work full-time as a minister of religion, missionary or member of the religious order;
• not take any other employment;
• prove that you can support yourself and any dependants you have without needing help from public funds;
• have an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) certificate showing you have achieved English language skills to level 6 (competent user); and
• have a valid United Kingdom entry clearance in this category.

IELTS is an international test designed to assess the language ability of people who need to study or work where English is used as a language of communication. Candidates are tested on listening, reading, writing and speaking. The tests are available at test centres around the world. Details of test centres are on the IELTS website.

If you already have English skills, such as if you were educated in an English-speaking country, the officer considering your application may decide that you do not need to pass the IELTS test. You will need to prove sufficient English skills in another way.

If you are already living in the United Kingdom with permission to stay here under another category of visa, you can switch to a visa as a minister of religion if you:

• are in the United Kingdom legally; and
• have been here for one year or longer; and
• have been:
  • working as a minister of religion for at least one year during the five years immediately before the date of your application; or
  • ordained as a minister of religion following at least one year of full-time training or two years of part-time training for the ministry, where ordination is the only way of entering the ministry for that faith.
• must produce an IELTS certificate to certify that you have achieved level 6 in spoken and written English and that it is dated no more than two years prior to the date of your application.

See Applying for more information on applying to come to the United Kingdom as a minister of religion or switch into this category while already here.

A minister of religion is a religious worker whose main duty is to lead a congregation in prayer and preach about his/her religious beliefs.Public funds are income-related benefits paid by the state. They include income support, income-based job seekers allowance, housing and homelessness assistance, housing and council tax benefit, working families' tax credit, a social fund payment, child benefit and any disability allowance. Benefits paid as a result of contributions, such as the state pension, are not considered to be public funds. Social housing is not considered to be a public fund either. Claiming public funds when you are not eligible is known as benefit fraud and it is a criminal offence.Someone who depends on you financially, such as a husband, wife, partner, or child.