Visa restrictions force Catholic training centre to leave the UK

The Institute of St Anselm in Margate, Kent, an international training centre for leaders, formators and evangelisers in the Catholic Church, is relocating to Rome, following a Home Office letter revoking its licence for student visas, writes Carina Murphy.

Nearly 5,000 students from around 90 countries have gained certificates and diplomas at St Anselm over the past 32 years.

The institute has been told it is “considered a threat to immigration because more than 10 per cent of our students have been refused a visa”, a spokesman said. The institute claimed many of these refusals followed mistakes on the part of the Home Office.

The institute said that over the past few years there had been “fresh hoops to jump through” with many students spending extra money applying for visas more than once to meet all Home Office requirements. Brexit would only worsen the situation, said St Anselm’s founder Fr Leonard Kofler, who has made the decision to move with “a heavy heart”.

Courses at St Anselm will finish in June and resume at the new facility in Rome in January 2018.

The Home Office has revoked over 900 Tier 4 licences (for enrolling students from outside the European Economic Area) since 2010. A spokesman denied there had been a recent upsurge.