Visa shake-up facing clubs

Oct 13 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

OFFICIALS OF cricket clubs intending to employ overseas players in 2009 will risk prosecution if they do not abide by new regulations introduced by the Home Office.

The Managed Migration System replaces all the current means by which cricketers come to the UK and introduces three categories for applicants. The first of these, Tier 2, will be used solely by the first-class counties, but the others, Tier 5 and Sports Visas, are specifically designed for recreational clubs such as those in the Business Assistance Liverpool Competition.

Tier 5 is for professional players who will need to have played five first-class matches in the previous 24 months and will also need to possess, or be in the process of getting, a Level II coaching qualification.

Clubs wishing to employ such a cricketer will need to get a Licence of Sponsorship from the Home Office, which will ultimately allow the player to apply for a biometric Visa from the British Embassy or High Commission in his home country. Such applications may, of course, still be turned down on security or other grounds.

Licences will cost £400 and will last for four years. Sponsoring clubs will need to supply evidence of ECB support, copies of club accounts plus insurance and other documents with their application. The new licences will also be player specific – if a club changes its professional, a new application, costing £10, will have to be made.

The new regulations may sound dry and predictably bureaucratic. But such is the Home Office’s desire to control immigration more tightly, that it has been made clear that heavy fines or even possible imprisonment await officials who bring in or employ “migrant workers” without proper documentation.

The Sports Visa method of entry is simpler and it is anticipated that it will be adopted by most recreational clubs. Under the system, players who can prove that to the Embassy or High Commission that they are not professional cricketers will be able to apply for a Sports Visa to play for a specific club. These will cost £65 and it is understood they will be available from countries decribed by the Home office as “low risk” such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Despite the new visas being intended for amateur sportspersons, it will still be permitted for such cricketers to be paid for their services and most first-grade Australian players, for example, would be included in this category.

Both systems place considerable administrative burdens on club officials, but Neil Edwards, Secretary of the League Cricket Conference and an authority in the field of employing overseas cricketers, feels that the impact will be “quite positive”.

”Under the new system, it’s quite clear what clubs have to do,” he said.