Date: 28th Mar 2024
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REGISTERING OVERSEAS PLAYERS: LATEST GUIDANCE FROM THE HOME OFFICE

Date: 22nd August 2016

This information is as shared with ECB Premier Leagues and comes from the Home Office via the ECB.

      Player Registration 1

All non-European Economic Area citizens will require prior permission to come to the

UK to participate in sport if they do not hold:

British passport (or is a spouse/ dependent of) European passport (or is a spouse/ dependent of) Ancestral visa

Non Visa Nationals

Most common visa types within Cricket are:

Tier 5 Creative & Sporting

Standard Visitor Visa

Tier 5 Youth Mobility

Tier 4 (Student)

Player Registration 2

Tier 5 Creative & Sporting:

Designed for professionals in their home country coming here and acting as a professional:

Can: Be employed as a player and/or coach for the main sponsor.

Cannot:    Seek any other type of employment other than what they

        were granted permission for to enter the UK.

Player Registration 3

2017 – Tier 5 Creative & Sporting:

New “GBE CRITERIA FOR 2017 SEASON͟ coming into place,

1st  Sept published and 1st Oct – implemented.

FCC 2nd XL cricket is classed as professional game and is therefore covered by the Tier 5 GBE criteria for First Class Game.

Individuals in the UK on a Tier 5 Creative & Sporting visa issued for the Recreational Game cannot participate in any matches that are part of the First Class Game or Minor County.

Player Registration 4

Standard Visitor Visa:

This is a new visa -merged version of the old Sports Visitor, General Visitor and Business Visitor. Policy of each still applies.

Sports section is for a person to join an amateur team or club to gain experience in a particular sport if they are an amateur in that sport.

 

Can: Play sport whilst in the UK, as an amateur, providing they are an amateur in their home country.

Cannot:    Seek employment –paid or unpaid.

Coach in any capacity.

Player Registration 5

Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme: (Ages 18 –30)

This provides individuals from certain countries an opportunity to come an experience living and working in the UK.

Can:         Seek employment (but not as a professional sportsperson or coach).

                 Coach, providing it is informal and ad-hoc.

         Cannot:    Act as a professional sportsperson –paid or unpaid.

Player Registration 6

Tier 4 (Student):

Most commonly used by students from abroad studying at a University in the UK.

Can: Play sport whilst in the UK, as an amateur, but only for their local club or the Education Institution they are studying at.

Cannot:    Be paid to play

Seek employment that is not part of the subject they are studying

Coach in any capacity –unless it is part of their course they are studying.

Player Registration 7

Home Office definition of Professional vs Amateur:

Paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules set out the definitions for an amateur and a professional sportsperson:

An “Amateur” is a person who engages in a sport or creative activity solely for personal enjoyment and who is not seeking to derive a living from the activity. This also includes a person playing or coaching in a charity game.

A “Professional Sportsperson”, is someone, whether paid or unpaid, who:

is providing services as a sportsperson, playing or coaching in any capacity, at a professional or semi-professional level of sport; or

being a person who currently derives, who has in the past derived or seeks in the future to derive, a living from playing or coaching, is providing services as a sportsperson or coach at any level of sport, unless they are doing so as an “Amateur”.

Player Registration 8

Responsibility of Clubs:

Clubs wishing to use the services of a player, who is in the UK, but not on a Tier 5 Creative & Sporting (Non FCC) visa, must ensure that the visa the person has, allows them to play and/or coach.

They must make their own checks, and not rely on information that Agents provide them.

Sources of support:

ECB Managed Migration website –www.ecb.co.uk/managedmigration

Home Office website –

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office

Sponsor & Employer Enquiries: 0300 123 4699 or BusinessHelpdesk@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Player Registration 9

Home Office Penalties for visa abuse:

“Employment” can be paid or unpaid.

In cricket, the club Chairman holds the legal responsibility for all activities in the club and is therefore the “Employer”

An employer who has not carried out the correct checks faces a penalty of up to £20,000.

The individual concerned (player) could be deported and banned from entering the UK.

 

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