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Government Announces Temporary Visas for HGV Drivers and Poultry Workers

on Friday, 01 October 2021.

The Home Office has announced plans to issue 5,000 temporary visas to HGV drivers and a further 5,500 for poultry workers to address critical labour shortages in the haulage and food processing industries.

The Home Office plans to start issuing these temporary visas in October 2021. From what we know so far, they will be issued under the existing temporary Seasonal Worker framework, which before now has been confined solely to the 'edible horticulture sector' (fruit pickers, in common parlance). 

The Home Office have confirmed that all visas issued under this category to HGV drivers and poultry workers will expire on 24 December, so will potentially be valid for significantly less than three months by the time visa processing times are taken into account.

Why Is this Happening Now?

Following the end of the Brexit Transition on 31 December 2020 and free movement from the European Economic Area, the pool of labour from which UK companies can recruit has shrunk significantly. And while adjustments to the UK's immigration system included a reduction of the qualifying skill level in some routes, apart from the Seasonal Worker route so-called 'low-skilled' jobs generally do not qualify for sponsored work visas.

HGV mechanics and instructors qualify under the Skilled Worker route, as do butchers, poultry dressers and vent chick sexers, but HGV drivers and general poultry workers do not. Given the prevalence of EEA nationals in those roles over recent years, the haulage and poultry sectors in particular have suffered from the end of free movement.

The announcement of this new emergency visa scheme attempts to address supply chain issues currently impacting the UK in the short term and the Home Office has highlighted that the measure is a temporary one.

How Will the New Scheme Operate?

The new visas will come under the existing Seasonal Workers route which falls within the Temporary Worker family of immigration categories and the Home Office has highlighted that this is a short-term solution and the visas are a time limited provision. With the visas falling under the Seasonal Workers route, similar sponsorship rules are expected to apply, in particular, that only a limited number of approved agencies (four at the time of writing) will be able to recruit and sponsor people for these visas.

Whether the emergency visa scheme will address the issues it was designed to is dependent on two key factors. First, whether migrant workers are financially incentivised by a three-month visa and willing to come to the UK and second, whether the Home Office will be able to process the applications in time.

What Does this Mean for Other Sectors?

On the face of it, this announcement is of little relevance beyond the haulage and poultry sectors. However, these are not the only sectors to be suffering from shortages of lower skilled workers. The care sector, for example, is another struggling to fill vacancies, and many others such as hospitality, tourism and other parts of the food production industry are also reporting increasing vacancies in the sorts of the roles the immigration system does not currently accommodate.

It therefore remains to be seen whether the government may be forced into creating further sector-specific low-skilled visa routes to address shortages in other sectors.


For further information on immigration issues facing your business, please contact Tom Brett Young in our Immigration Law team on 07393 148352, or complete the form below.

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