Upcoming changes to the Minister of Religion and Religious Worker Visa Routes - what sponsors need to know

On 3 September 2026, the Home Office published a Statement of Changes setting out reforms to various immigration routes. A number of the changes have been made to the Minister of Religion and Religious Worker routes which will come into force on 29 October 2026. 

Changes of particular note to sponsors of religious personnel include:

• The six year maximum stay rule under the Minister of Religion will finally been removed. This limit was previously in place for other work routes but was abolished in 2020. Although it remained in place for Ministers of Religion, it was rarely an issue in practice given the current ability to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after 5 years of continuous residence.
• Members of Religious Orders applying under the Minister of Religion route will no longer be subject to the requirement for their role to not mainly involve non-pastoral duties. This will provide greater flexibility and recognises that members of religious orders undertake a broad range of activities as part of their vocation. It will however still be important to demonstrate how the individual will satisfy the definition of a Minister of Religion and if switching in country, be able to distinguish their intended duties from any previous role they held under the Religious Worker route.
• Additional clarification has been provided on the financial requirement for Ministers of Religion and Religious Workers. Currently, if a role is exempt from the National Minimum Wage, it is necessary to clearly explain the legal basis for this on the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).  From 29 October 2026, the rules will be updated to confirm that if an exemption applies, sponsors must also explicitly confirm that it will maintain and accommodate the applicant (and any dependants) for the duration of the period of permission in the UK.
• The formal requirement for a Religious Worker to satisfy the resident labour consideration by advertising a role has been removed, making the route more closely aligned with other work routes. The existing exemptions to this requirement will remain (except the ability to rely on national records showing that no suitable settled worker is available to fill the role) and an applicant will instead need to satisfy one of the following: 
  • (a) be sponsored for a role that is supernumerary, such that it is over and above the sponsor’s normal staffing requirements and if the person filling the role was not there, it would not need to be filled by anyone else (with a full explanation of why it is supernumerary); or 
  • (b) be sponsored for a role that involves living mainly within and being a member of a religious order, which must be a lineage of communities or of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, for example an order of nuns or monks; or 
  • (c) have performed religious duties outside the UK for the same faith-based organisation to which the sponsor is affiliated for at least 6 months immediately prior to the date of application and a letter from the overseas faith-based organisation detailing this must be provided 

We are expecting further announcements to be made from the Home Office over the coming months in relation to possible changes to the qualifying period needed before a Minister of Religion can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (which is currently 5 years). Our Immigration Team continue to monitor any develops on this as well as in relation to the above changes and will keep clients updated.

Please get in touch with our Head of Immigration, Julie Moktadir, if you require any support with sponsoring religious personnel.