A TOP clergyman has branded immigration officials as "jobsworths" after they stopped a Mother's Union speaker coming from the Sudan to attend a church meeting in the diocese.

Rev Elizabeth Aya's visa application was refused ten days before she was due to arrive in the UK on Mother's Union business to speak to more than 60 people at a church event celebrating the diocese's 30-year-old link with the Sudan.

The decision has rattled many in the newly-formed Diocese of West Yorkshire and The Dales, including the Archdeacon of Bradford , the Venerable Dr David Lee, who is chairman of the Sudan Link Committee.

Mrs Aya, who is the president of the Mothers’ Union in Sudan and Southern Sudan and has visited Bradford before, was due to be the keynote speaker at the meeting to renew friendship and links with the revamped diocese at St Stephen's Church in Steeton.

"The Bradford Diocese as it was, had links with the Sudan for 30 years and we invited her to come and renew those links with our new, bigger and wider diocese to carry it on. She is an international speaker, she is fabulous person, a bit Mother Theresa-ish - she was terribly disappointed to be barred but still sent us her love and prayers. We would love her to be able to come another time."

The diocese said UK immigration officials rejected Mrs Aya's application on three grounds - firstly that she had not proved she was employed and "sufficiently maintained" in Sudan and secondly that she was widowed and had not given details of any family or any other ties such as a bank account or property at home that would persuade her to leave the UK at the end of her trip.

The church said the third and final reason was, despite her sending a letter from the diocese about her visit, it did not prove the diocese had the resources to host her stay and to pay for a ticket back to Sudan if it was needed.

The Ven Dr Lee, who said it had been too late to lodge an appeal at the time, said: "The jobsworths who have have processed this application have done it in total ignorance, it's a total scandal. They could not find the diocese because it's new and have just sat there and gone down the tick boxes and knocked it on the head without looking in to it more.

"The excuse of a lack of bank account is going to rule out a lot of people from third world countries who have a lot to give and share - they will be automatically excluded which I am not happy about."

A Home Office spokesman said: “Each application is considered on its individual merits and according to the evidence provided. It is the responsibility of the applicant to demonstrate they meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules by submitting all the necessary evidence.”

The Ven Dr Lee and others in the diocese are plotting their next step to put in an official complaint against the Border Agency and are contacting Shipley MP Philip Davies in the hope he takes their objections to the minister for immigration and border control.

They are also in conversation with the Salisbury Diocese who experienced similar problems with a group of young people who wanted to come from the Sudan.

MP Mr Davies said he would happily take up the issue with the immigration minister but added: "These are difficult times. We want legitimate people to come in to this country but most of my constituents complain that the Border Agency isn't robust enough. It's about striking the right balance."