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2 NEW VISA LAUNCHED BY UK GOVERNMENT

The UK government has announced details of its temporary visa schemes for HGV drivers and poultry workers. Please keep in mind that both schemes has already opened for applications from 11th October 2021.

Furthermore, the UK government has made a number of modifications since their original statement – we suppose in reply to some of the disapproval they got concerning the short duration of the HGV drivers scheme especially.

HGV drivers
This visa route is for the individuals who will be employed to transport food goods.

Please keep in mind that drivers need to have an HGV licence accepted for use in the UK, and the scheme applies to EU, EEA (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) or Swiss licence holders only. Furthermore, drivers must also possess a HGV (category C or C+E) licence.

Poultry workers

This visa route is for individuals who fall under one of 12 different work categories, from pluckers to butchers to meat packers. There are approximately 5,500 temporary visas available for poultry workers and 4,700 available for HGV food drivers (a distinct emergency immigration scheme was founded for HGV fuel tanker drivers, permitting them instant entry to the UK, opening on 1st October and closing on 15th October 2021.)

Validity of the Schemes

For poultry workers the last date for applying for poultry workers under the temporary visa scheme is 15 November 2021. All provisional visas for poultry workers will expire on 31 December 2021.

For HGV drivers the last date for applying for HGV drivers under the provisional visa scheme is 1 December 2021. All provisional visas for HGV drivers will expire on 28 February 2022.

How to apply for the Temporary Visas?

Please keep in mind that, it is the UK employer who is required to apply to the scheme.

The Temporary Visa Applications are made via one of the four scheme operators.

The UK government has declared that these scheme operators are: AG Recruitment, Concordia, Fruitful Jobs and Pro-Force.

These are the chosen four corporations who have been running the UK government’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers pilot.

Please keep in mind that, all four have separate visa application processes, so employers must get in touch with these organisations directly.