Fourteen trainee Methodist ministers from the USA have been blocked from entering Britain by the Home Office. The trainees were planning to visit for a year to take part in a work experience scheme, however, despite similar groups having come into the country previously under the same scheme, this time the trainees were denied entry, report the Church Times newspaper.

The block came apparently following legislation passed in 1994, which ruled that religious workers requesting permission to enter Britain must prove that they are suitably qualified to perform the religious office that they are entering Britain to take up.

In particular, the rule states that they have to have worked for at least one year as a minister of religion. However, Methodist ministers are not ordained until they have served at least two years in a circuit, which is equivalent of a parish.