Chai Brady
Chai Brady speaks to religious orders about ‘confusing’ Minister of Religion visa procedures
After a Government department updated its policy regarding visas for clergy and religious hoping to do pastoral work in Ireland, confusion and claims it is outright “discriminatory” have followed.
A division of the Department of Justice stopped issuing Minister of Religion (MoR), Stamp 3, visas for almost four months from January last year as they reviewed their scheme.
The new rules were enforced in April 2018, and caused some chaos and criticism that they were far too “stringent” and unworkable.
According to several leaders of Catholic religious orders they have experienced many roadblocks that caused severe delays to the process, with some members overseas being denied a visa. However, according to the Government body in charge of the MoR visa, the new procedures are meant to “streamline” the process rather than inhibit.
Need
The INIS (Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service) states: “Under the Minister of Religion permission, qualifying religious personnel will be permitted to enter and remain in the State for up to three years, where there is a demonstrated need for their services and subject to compliance with all other immigration requirements that apply in individual cases.”
Part of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary’s Congregational Leadership Team, Sr Angele Nkamsi, had many issues helping one of her order who was applying to enter the country under the MoR visa.
The financial pressures she added, have always been a strain, and they are asked to give six months of bank statements to prove they are able to sustain the applicant during their stay”
The main issue was preparing the newly introduced preclearance application, which she said was “very complicated”, with one of the issues being Garda vetting. Sr Angele said: “I was anxious because when I saw the thing about Garda vetting I was wondering how we go about it, because the sister was not with us here in Ireland.
“So immediately I checked with the Garda office in Blackrock, and they were the ones who directed me to write to Tipperary, so I was back and forth to Tipperary twice. They said at the end we didn’t need the Garda vetting before she arrived, I was kind of anxious because I was not sure she would get the visa and be able to come to the programme.”
Sr Angele added that there were also issues with health insurance after her preclearance application was accepted, as the sister needed to show she was travelling with insurance, but the Irish insurance company would only insure her if she was in the country. Considerable correspondence between the insurance company and the Irish embassy in Nairobi – who would not give her the visa – finally resolved the issue.
Fortunately Sr Angele was able to secure the visa for the sister, who was eventually able to travel to Ireland, but not everyone has been as successful.
Despite repeated efforts to speak to a representative of AMRI (Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland) they failed to comment on visa issues regarding some religious being denied entry to the country under the MoR. It is believed they were hoping to take part in the Religious Formation Ministry Programme at Loreto House.
The people that are coming, they are not bringing money into the house, because if they do any ministry it’s gratis because we can’t have income from that service”
Superior of the Missionary Sisters of St Peter Claver, Lucyna Wisniowska said: “The concerns were, especially with people bringing in sisters and priests from overseas sisters and priests for the Loreto studies, some have received permission, two were allowed, two were rejected, so the Loreto suffered because they don’t get the number of people they could get otherwise.”
Sr Lucyna expressed concern about an Indian sister they are hoping to help get an MoR visa for, saying the “rules and regulations are killing, really and truly”.
“The people that are coming, they are not bringing money into the house, because if they do any ministry it’s gratis because we can’t have income from that service,” she said.
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The financial pressures, she added, have always been a strain, and they are asked to give six months of bank statements to prove they are able to sustain the MoR applicant during their stay.
To be eligble as an MoR under the scheme the INIS say the individual’s work “for an established congregation in Ireland” must involve all or most of the following:
- Conduct spiritual worship and or ceremonies to an established congregation in Ireland.
- Give pastoral care to members of an established congregation through preaching.
- Conduct classes based on a religious ethos, supervising prayer meetings etc.
- Provide spiritual leadership.
- Minister to the spiritual needs of an established congregation.
- Conduct pastoral visitation.
- Provide senior administration support of a substantially full-time nature to a religious institution/order/church.
- Be a member of a religious community whose members take public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
They add: “If your intention is to join a “closed” religious order in Ireland (of which you are already a member) please apply for permission based on the last point above.”
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Regional Representative of the Mill Hill Missionaries Fr Philip O’Halloran said the new procedures were “stringent” and had caused confusion among some orders, and said religious couldn’t apply for a student visa for Loreto House, reiterating that they’ve experienced “some issues” with the MoR.
“Let’s put it this way, they are stringent, first of all you say you have someone coming in, the Loreto House programme is a non-credited formation Ministry Programme, so in other words they’re not registered as an academic institution so their students, who are priests, brothers and sisters usually, cannot register for student visas.
Process
Nuns have to apply for a Minister of Religion visa, so then you have to apply for the pre-clearance,” he said, which forces them to go through the MoR process.
He added that one of the rules for the preclearance application stipulates the need for a full colour copy of the applicant’s current passport including all the pages, with the same applying for all their previous passports.
“Let’s say you have an older man in his 50s or 60s coming for an extended break. He’ll be here longer than a tourist visa so he’ll apply for the Minister of Religion, whether he’s going to do preaching or work or whatever,” said Fr O’Halloran, “but then he has to produce a copy of every page, blank and all, of his passports, every passport since the first passport he’s had.
“Some countries demand you send them back to the passport office when they go out of date, that’s another thing,” he highlighted.
An Irish Christian network, Aontas, had major qualms with the numerous new procedures”
“We’ve had missionaries in Borneo Sawarak which is present day Malaysia, they had a policy, in the 1960s, after 10 years of ministry there you couldn’t get another work visa, that’s in the State of Brunei too.
“If you read through the regulations basically you can renew this minister of religion visa twice for two three-years periods, so maximum of six years, so we have got a stricter policy than some of the most strict Muslim countries.”
Fr Philip added that although there are “shouts about ‘no to racism’”, the Department of Justice seem to be preventing many with a concern for the people of Ireland “in their hearts” and for the Gospel needs of the country.
He added they are “left with a bitter taste in their mouths after a refusal and appeal process to get there”.
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An Irish Christian network, Aontas, had major qualms with the numerous new procedures, stating in a letter to the Minister of Justice over the summer that they are “discriminatory”.
Aontas sought a meeting with the INIS after they were informed the procedures would be changed for the MoR.
They wanted to influence the outcome of this review because as stakeholders, they were concerned that the new scheme would not be favourable to the Churches Aontas represents.
After securing a meeting in March 2018 which spokesperson of the group Paudge Mulvihill said “seemed to go well”, they were left with the impression that the new procedures would be fair and workable. When they were published, he said, it was “quite a different story”.
The letter sent to the minister stated there were “several restrictions which make it effectively unworkable for many churches to avail of the scheme”.
If you read through the regulations basically you can renew this minister of religion visa twice for two three-years periods, so maximum of six years”
A stipulation that funds for Ministers of Religion must come from within Ireland, will make it difficult for churches with limited financial resources to recruit an experienced minister, they say.
“This effectively turns on its head a centuries-old practice that such people always came with their own funding. This change will make it impossible for many churches to avail of the scheme and is therefore discriminatory at its core,” the letter states.
Preclearances
The preclearance application also requires that churches can only recruit from within their own ecclesiastical body, which excludes churches from recruiting from an ecclesiastical background other than their own – which some churches are happy to do Aontas say.
It adds: “The INIS also state that they reserve the right to request audited accounts from churches who seek to avail of the scheme. This would present a burden financially on a church with limited resources as it can be quite expensive, costing in the region of €1,500, to provide audited accounts.
“We find it profoundly disconcerting that the INIS would construct a scheme that so significantly works against the legitimate functioning and interests of churches. The new scheme is discriminatory in that it can only be availed of by churches with considerable financial resources, thereby excluding many other churches. We are therefore calling for a scheme that is equitable and inclusive and not unduly cumbersome.”
In a statement given to this paper, the Department of Justice wanted to clarify that the Minister of Religion scheme is administrative and not governed by regulation. It was one of a number of schemes under review by the Immigration Service from 2017.
The department stated one of the main reasons was: “Under the previous system, the application process for Ministers of Religion who were not visa required could only begin upon their arrival in the State. This led to the situation whereby some applicants may have been refused permission to remain after taking up their role which would have caused difficulties for their communities. Applicants who were visa-required had visas issued only where they satisfied the criteria that are now encompassed in the new scheme.”
Replying to a question about the need for a sponsor in Ireland to show they can support the applicant through the “sufficient” provision of funds and/or accommodation throughout the period of their permission to remain in the State under the programme, they said: “This is for the protection of applicants and to ensure that applicants do not become a burden on the State. This was also a requirement of the process that was in operation prior to the review.”
The “large majority” of applicants to the new scheme since April 2018 have been Christian, with a range of Christian denominations being represented. There are also a number of applications from Buddhist and Muslim faiths. Due to concerns of identifying individuals, statistics provided for applications did not give a detailed breakdown by religion/ecclesiastical body.
The top five countries regarding the number of applicants are, in order: India, the US, Kenya, Nigeria and the Philippines. Due to smaller numbers coming from other countries the department amalgamated the figures to protect identities.
Difficulties
However, there have been 112 applicants from a wide range of countries including Chile, Mexico, China, Thailand, Tanzania, Vietnam, South Africa, Burkino Faso, Fiji, Japan, Angola, Pakistan, Mauritius, Hong Kong, Columbia, Argentina, Egypt, Australia, South Korea, Ethiopia, Guyana, East Timor and more.
While some orders have encountered difficulties, others are still not aware of the new scheme such as the Society of African Missions, as none of their members have yet been affected. They are currently making enquiries.
The Diocese of Elphin, in response to a query from The Irish Catholic, said that although they have found the new system takes longer, they believe “it works well”.
The new preclearance scheme will be under review in three years, which some are sceptical about actually happening, but it seems it may come under fire if confusion surrounding its functioning isn’t clarified, with some people who are vehemently opposed continuing to lobby for change in the meantime.