2018-Mar 23: Change of Sponsor - Religious Worker Visa

Visa Pak 349 - Advice for staff about whether holders of Religious Worker Work Visas can change their sponsoring religious organisation by way of a Variation of Conditions.

Visa Paks

23 March 2018

Change of Sponsor - Religious Worker Visa

Under Religious Worker immigration instructions the applicant must be sponsored by a religious organisation registered as a charity whose purpose is advancing religion.

Where a holder of a Religious Worker work visa wishes to change their sponsoring organisation, in most cases this will require a new Religious Worker work visa application accompanied by a completed sponsorship form from the new sponsor.

A variation of conditions (VOC) to change the sponsoring organisation stipulated on the existing work visa would only be appropriate in very limited circumstances - for example where there was a change to the existing sponsor’s organisational structure (similar to where an employer changes their business name but is still the same core business).

It is important to note that any applicant for a Religious Worker work visa is still limited to a maximum of four years holding a Religious Worker work visa.  Any time that the applicant has held a religious worker visa for any other religious organisation should be deducted from the maximum entitlement of the new religious worker visa. For example:

An applicant has held two previous Religious Worker work visas for a total of two years and one month. They have applied for a new Religious Worker work visa with a new sponsoring organisation. Given that instructions only permit a maximum visa duration of four years under this category, the applicant can only be issued a further visa for one year and eleven months.