Religious Worker Visa UK

What is the Religious Worker Visa in UK?

The Religious Worker Visa is a subcategory of the Temporary Worker Visa. The visa is for those who wish to work temporarily in a non-pastoral role or as a visiting religious worker. The visa allows you to live and work in the UK for up to 24 months. If you plan to work in a pastoral religious role longer, consider the Minister of Religion Visa instead.

While in the UK on the religious worker visa, you can also study, take on a second job in the same sector and at the same level as your main job for up to 20 hours per week, and do a job that is on the Skilled Worker immigration salary list for up to 20 hours a week.

The UK religious worker visa also allows you to bring certain family members, including dependent children, to the UK as your dependents. However, it’s important to note that you cannot access public funds while living in the UK on this visa.

Who qualifies as a religious worker in UK?

To qualify for the Religious Worker Visa UK you must have a job offer in an eligible role. Three types of roles, typically with non-pastoral duties, can qualify for this visa. They include:

• Religious workers undertaking supporting activities must perform these religious duties without leading a congregation in performing religious rites and rituals and preaching the essentials of the creed.
• Visiting religious workers – you must also be employed abroad in the same work you plan to do in the UK and have ongoing employment.
• Members of a religious order —this could include monastic communities of monks, nuns, and similar religious communities.

If the role you will be doing requires you to take on core duties such as leading a congregation or school teaching, then you will not be eligible for a temporary worker visa. Instead, these roles fall under the Minister of Religion visa category.

Eligibility requirements for religious worker visa UK

In addition to having a job offer to work in an eligible role, you must meet several other requirements to qualify for the Religious Worker Visa. You must:

• Be over the age of 18
• Hold a valid Certificate of Sponsorship – a unique reference number issued by your religious organisation, which must be a licensed sponsor employer. It contains your personal details and information about the religious work you will do. It also should include details of the sponsor organisation’s work.
• Have enough money to support yourself – you will need at least £1,270 in your bank account to prove that you can support yourself financially in the UK. The funds must be available for at least 28 days in a row within 31 days of your application.
• Not have been issued a Religious Worker visa or Charity Worker visa in the last year – unless you can prove you were outside the UK for the whole of that time.

In addition to the above criteria, you will need your Certificate of Sponsorship to confirm that you have met the resident labour consideration requirements. Employers sponsoring applicants for this visa must demonstrate that someone in the resident labour force in the UK could not fill the role.

There is no minimum annual salary requirement for this visa; however, to be eligible, you must be paid the National Minimum Wage unless you are working in a role that is exempt from this, and you must also be paid the same rate that workers already in the UK could expect to be paid for the role.

How to apply for a Religious Temporary Worker Visa?

You can apply for this temporary worker visa up to 3 months before the day you are due to start work in the UK. You must currently be outside the UK and apply online at the gov.uk website. You will need to complete and submit the online application form.

You will also need to prove your identity as part of your application. Depending on your passport type, you may need to have your biometric information (your photo and fingerprints) taken at a visa application centre or use the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to scan your identity document.

You’ll be told which of the above options you need. If you are required to attend an appointment at a visa application centre, they may need to keep your passport and other documents while your application is being processed.

Once you have completed these steps, your visa application will be processed. You will usually receive a decision from the Home Office within 3 weeks.

You may be able to apply for priority service for a quick decision

• Priority Service for a decision within 5 working days – £500 additional fee
• Super Priority Service for a decision within a single working day – £1000 additional fee

Required documents for Religious Worker visa application

When making your religious work visa application, you must submit several supporting documents to prove that you meet the visa requirements. You will need the following documents:

• Your sponsorship certificate reference number
• You will need a valid passport or another national identity document, and for your visa, you will need a blank page in your passport.
• Evidence that you have enough personal savings to meet the financial requirement, such as bank statements
• Your tuberculosis test results if you are from a country where the test is required
• Biometric information requiring digital photographs and fingerprints

If you bring any accompanying dependents to the UK, you must also submit additional documents to prove your relationship with them.

Any documents not written in English or Welsh must be professionally translated.

Application fee for religious worker visa UK

​As of April 2025, the application fee for a UK Religious Worker visa (Temporary Work) is £319 per applicant, regardless of whether you’re applying from inside or outside the UK.

In addition to the application fee, applicants must also pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which allows access to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) during their stay. The IHS is typically £1035 per year for adults.

Can I extend my Religious worker visa in UK?

Extending your Religious Temporary Worker Visa is possible if your original visa was valid for less than 24 months. If you plan to extend your visa, you must apply before the validity of your current visa runs out. To be eligible for an extension, you must continue to meet all of the visa’s original eligibility requirements.

Your visa can only be extended up to a maximum of 24 months or the time on your Certificate of Sponsorship plus 14 days, whichever is shorter.

To extend your visa, you must apply online. If your dependent family also wants to extend their stay, they must make separate visa extension applications.

Our lawyers can help you extend your visa. For more information, call +44 (0)333 414 9244.

How can IAS help?

Applying for a temporary work visa can be a complex process; even the slightest mistake can result in your visa being refused. For the best chance of a successful application, it is highly recommended that you seek the assistance of a professional immigration lawyer.

Our immigration solicitors have decades of experience in UK immigration law and know exactly what makes a successful application. We offer reliable and professional legal advice and practical application assistance.

Our immigration solicitors can assess whether you are eligible for Religious Worker Visas, help you fill in the application form, and assist you with gathering all of your supporting documents. If you want to work in the UK temporarily in another type of role, we can also assess whether you are eligible for other temporary worker visas.

We can also support any faith-based organisation in employing workers via the religion route. Whether for a long or shorter period, we work with organisations to secure sponsorship licensing and comply with immigration law for UK visas, including temporary worker visas and skilled worker visas.

For further information about the services we offer to temporary workers, get in touch today on +44 (0)333 414 9244.