Zimbabweans in the UK (2017 Thread)

gargamel wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2017 1:31 pm

They may have applied for the UK Sports Visitors Visa which is not applicable as they now fall into Teir 5, If so not very clever and a bad mark for a player if he wants to travel again

The Sports Visitor visa is a thing of the past. Its been replaced by the standard visitor visa now which encompasses a few of the old available visas.

Over the UK winter the UK borders agency and ECB teamed up to bring in tougher visa regulations on players coming over here to make some money out of cricket.

Any player who has played T20, List A or FC cricket for a State/County side abroad is now classed as a "Pro" cricketer - not matter how long ago that game was and even if it was just the one appearance. If a player falls into the "Pro" category then for them to be granted entry into the UK they have to come on a Tier 5 Sportsman's visa (this allows them to be paid by a club through the books). However, for a player to meet the criteria for a Tier 5 visa they NEED to have played at least 5 First Class or International Test/One Day/ T20 games (can be a mixture of the formats as long as it totals 5 games) in the 24 months prior to their arrival to the UK. Domestic List A and T20 matches will not be included.

UK clubs need to pay for a Tier 5 sponsors license. I'd say 70% of clubs in the UK right now don't have one so maybe that's why Kunje would have gone for a Visitor Visa. If he's done that then he's snookered himself as my club were looking at him as a possibility for 2018 they way his batting has gone! If any of you know of any guys playing Franchise cricket who are speaking direct with club make sure they know that the club NEEDS a tier 5 sponsor license to get them into the country or they will get rejected and probably black-balled for future applications.

Amateur players are still permitted to come into the UK as long as they have NEVER been part of a player pathways set up - for example Zimbabwe U19S or a state U17s side. They would need to say they are travelling to the UK for recreational purposes and intend to take in a bit of cricket etc. But they need details of an address where they will be able to stay for their trip and that they'll have enough funds to finance their own stay and onward journey from the UK. They would be able to come over on the Standard Visitor Visa in this instance - which allows you into the UK for 6 months.

How well all this is being policed by the ECB and Borders Agency is up for debate and on a case by case basis. In my league theres plenty of overseas amateurs who have been through player pathways here being paid when the borders agency and ecb should have flagged them up.

One thing for sure though is that no pro cricketers will get into the UK unless they travel on a tier 5 visa. Which leads on to qualifying with the 5 first class games to grant the visa - if for whatever reason Zimbabwe lost its FC Classification for it's 4 day games then that would be the last of Zimbabweans travelling to the UK to pro for league clubs.