UK Seasonal Worker visa route extended for five years
The UK government has just announced that it will extend the seasonal worker visa route for five years, until 2029, to address current labour shortage in food supply chain, to give business time to plan effectively, to invest in automation and move away from reliance on migrant labour. UK started facing labour shortage after Brexit as it stopped free movement of workers in the UK.UK government do realise the current labour shortage and hence made some big announcements.
They announced
1. 43,000 visas will be available to the horticulture sector in 2025.
2. 2000 visas will be available for poultry workers in 2025.
3. The government also pledged to invest as much as £50 million in technology such as automated packing and robotic pickers, to reduce reliance on migrant labour in the UK’s food supply chain. For the detail of the number of visas available for 2026 to 2029 will be set out later this year.
Now another reminder to you. UK government asked MAC, which is the Migration Advisory Committee, to conduct inquiry into the seasonal worker visa route, which is due to be published in summer 2024.
UK Seasonal Worker visa route extended for five years
In order to lessen its dependency on migrant labour, the UK government is supporting technologies to address workforce shortages in the food supply chain.
The UK government has decided to prolong the Seasonal Worker visa path for a further five years, or until 2029. “To give businesses time to plan effectively, to invest in automation and move away from a reliance on migrant labour,” this decision was made.
In order to lessen the need on foreign workers, the government is financing technology, addressing manpower shortages in the food supply chain, and giving farmers and other food enterprises in the UK clarity and predictability.
The government will enact several new policies to assist the food supply chain in response to John Shropshire’s Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain.
Among them are:
- Extending the temporary worker visa programme for an additional five years, to 2029, to allow businesses more time to prepare
- Up to an additional £50 million will be provided for new technology to enable completely automated packhouses, with additional money to come in order to level the playing field for robotic crop pickers within three to five years.
- putting together a thorough plan to improve the availability of skills and draw in domestic help.
Applying for a Seasonal Worker visa will allow you to work in the UK in:
-
- Horticulture for up to 6 months – for example, picking fruit and vegetables or flowers
- Poultry from 2 October to 31 December, in the same year
You need to apply for poultry Seasonal Worker visas by 15 November each year. You can apply for horticulture Seasonal Worker visas at any time of year.
In addition to meeting the other eligibility conditions, you must have a sponsor. The Temporary Worker – Seasonal Worker visa (T5) has been replaced by this one.
Acknowledging the pressing necessity for farmers and producers to have sufficient time to allocate resources towards automation and shift away from relying on migrant labour, the seasonal worker visa route has been extended for an additional five years, from 2025 to 2029. In 2025, the horticultural industry will have access to 43,000 visas, with an additional 2,000 visas designated for poultry.
In order to lessen the sector’s dependency on migrant labour, the government has increased its support for automation in the sector and implemented policies to encourage British workers to pursue careers in agriculture.
In order to enhance awareness of the government support required to make completely automated packhouses widely viable, this will begin with immediate efforts to fully automate a group of key packhouses in 12 to 18 months.
In an effort to build robotic agricultural harvesters more quickly, the government will also collaborate with tech firms. Within three to five years, prototypes should be on level with human pickers. This will contribute to making the food supply chain in the UK the most advanced in the world.
The declaration follows the Prime Minister’s earlier this year announcement at the NFU Conference of the largest-ever round of farming awards, offering a total of £427 million to farmers, doubling the investment in productivity projects.
“The measures announced today will strengthen this by boosting funding for the cutting-edge technology that will reduce reliance on migrant labour in the long run,” said Environment Secretary Steve Barclay. “We have a world-class food and drink sector.”
In order to provide farmers and producers with the stability they need to prosper, we have extended the seasonal worker visa route until 2029. Businesses perform best when they can plan for the future.
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