Briefing: how to sponsor a Charity Worker

Once a charitable organisation has been granted a licence under the Charity Worker route, it will be able to begin sponsoring workers under this route. The work needs to be an eligible type of work and the applicant needs to meet various requirements in order to be eligible for sponsorship and for the visa. The rules for this appear in Appendix Temporary Worker – Charity Worker with general information and links to the application forms available on GOV.UK.

As a reminder, sponsorship isn’t required for British citizens, Irish citizens (with limited exceptions) or people who have other immigration permission allowing them to do the work, such as people with indefinite leave to remain or status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Validity, suitability and eligibility criteria for a Charity Worker

Applicants under the Charity Worker route must:

• have a valid certificate of sponsorship from an approved sponsor to do eligible charity work – see below;
• meet the financial requirement – this can be certified by the sponsor or the applicant can provide evidence that they have held cash funds of at least £1,270 for at least 28 days;
• genuinely intend, and be able, to undertake the role for which they are being sponsored;
• not intend to undertake employment other than the charity work for which they are being sponsored (and additional voluntary work that meets the applicable requirements); and
• be aged at least 18 on the date of application.

A person wishing to come to the UK under this route must apply for and obtain entry clearance as a Charity Worker before arriving in the UK, but a cooling-off period applies to this route – applicants for entry clearance must not have had permission as either a Charity Worker or a Religious Worker at any time during the 12 months immediately before the date of application (unless they can show they were not actually in the UK at any time during those 12 months).

It is not possible to switch to this route while already in the UK as a visitor or with another type of visa. Applicants can only make their application while in the UK if they currently have, or last had, permission as a Charity Worker.

The normal tuberculosis requirements apply to Charity Worker applications, as do suitability criteria under Part 9 of the immigration rules, including criminality, overstaying and previous breaches of the rules.

Certificates of sponsorship

The applicant needs to have a valid Charity Worker certificate of sponsorship issued less than three months before the date of application and with a work start date no more than three months after the date of application.  The sponsor must be authorised in the Charity Worker category with an A-rating. 

The certificate of sponsorship needs to confirm that the role is for voluntary fieldwork which contributes directly to the achievement or advancement of the sponsor’s charitable purpose. For example, in the case of a charity supporting homeless people, this may include activities related to working with homeless people directly. This does not include work that supports the charitable purpose such as routine back-office administrative work, retail or other sales roles, or even fundraising – the sponsor must not assign a Certificate of Sponsorship for such roles.

In addition, the Certificate of Sponsorship must confirm the role:

• is voluntary work and not paid or otherwise remunerated (including receipt of benefits in kind, except for reasonable expenses as defined in the National Minimum Wage Act 1998); and
• does not fill a permanent position, even on a temporary basis.

Visa application process

Applying from overseas

A person wishing to come to the UK under this route must apply for and obtain entry clearance as a Charity Worker before arriving in the UK.

EEA or Swiss citizens may be able to verify their identity using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app while other nationalities will need to attend biometric appointments with UKVI’s outsourced partner in the relevant country from which they are applying.

If applying from certain countries, applicants may need to provide evidence they meet the tuberculosis requirement.

Processing times are currently stated as up to three weeks, with fast-track options available for purchase in some countries.

Applying in the UK

If a person already has (or last had) permission as a Charity Worker but has not yet been in the UK for the maximum 12 months allowed, they can be assigned a new Certificate of Sponsorship and apply to extend their permission (up to the maximum total grant of 12 months). 

EEA or Swiss citizens may be able to verify their identity using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app while other nationalities will need to attend biometric appointments.

Current processing times are currently stated as up to eight weeks, with fast-track options potentially available for purchase.

Government fees

The current fee for a sponsor to assign a certificate of sponsorship to a Charity Worker is £25.

The current visa application fee is £298.

If the duration of sponsorship is between six and 12 months, the applicant will also need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge of £1,035.

Visa period and conditions

If an application is approved, the applicant will be granted permission for the period of the job on the certificate of sponsorship plus an additional 14 days, or 12 months if that is shorter. If the applicant is applying for permission to stay, the maximum period they will be granted will be the difference between time already spent in the UK since their last grant of permission and 12 months. This means that the maximum time someone can spend in the UK under this route is 12 months and the cooling-off period under the validity rules means that a person can’t just apply again immediately to start a new 12 months.

Visa holders will only be allowed to work in the role they are being sponsored for, or to undertake voluntary work with another organisation providing it is in the same role as the one listed in the certificate of sponsorship.

Study is permitted, subject to the ATAS condition where applicable, and visa holders will have no access to public funds.

Dependants

Eligible family members of Charity Workers can apply to accompany them to or join them in the UK as dependants. This includes partners (husband, wife or civil partner as well as an unmarried partner where the applicants have been in a relationship similar to marriage for at least two years) and children under 18 (or over 18 if they currently have permission as the dependant of the Charity Worker).

Applications by dependants will increase the level of funds that need to be shown for the visa applications on top of the £1,270 that applies to the main applicant. The additional amounts are £285 for a dependent partner, £315 for the first dependent child and £200 for each additional dependent child.

Visa fees are the same as for the main applicant (currently £298 per person) and the Immigration Health Surcharge (where applicable) is £1,035 for partners or £776 for each child.

If approved, partners should be granted permission in line with the main applicant and children should be granted permission in line with both parents (or in line with the shorter of the two permissions if the parents have permission on different routes).

Alternative routes

People in the UK as standard visitors can do volunteering while visiting the UK, provided it lasts no more than 30 days in total and is for a charity that is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, or the Scottish Charity Regulator. Care should be taken to differentiate volunteering (which can be done by a visitor) from voluntary work under a contractual obligation (which cannot be done by a visitor). Some information is available in UKVI’s visit caseworker guidance.

Some immigration routes allow visa holders to carry out voluntary work alongside their sponsored work (e.g. skilled worker). The UK ancestry route requires that applicants intend to undertake employment in the UK and voluntary work can meet this requirement.

There may be overlap between charitable and ecclesiastical organisations. If the Charity Worker route is not available or appropriate, it may be the case that the minister of religion or religious worker routes could be. 

Otherwise, if the role is appropriately renumerated and skilled, sponsorship as a skilled worker may be an option.

Future of sponsorship

UKVI has started to introduce the next phase of its plan to update the sponsorship process and systems. The new ‘Sponsor UK’ or ‘Sponsor a Worker’ system is understood to be intended to make the process of sponsoring workers and students quicker, easier and more intuitive for users and to ensure compliance with the sponsorship system. 

This currently only affects sponsors under the Government Authorised Exchange route and only a limited number of them under a closed pilot.  It therefore does not currently affect the Charity Worker route. However, as time goes on, the new system is expected to be rolled out to other sponsors on that route and then to other immigration routes, which may entail significant changes from some of the processes above.