The Home Office has recognised the challenges faced by employers within the fishing and seafood industry in relation to recruiting workers from overseas, and is now encouraging businesses to apply for a Sponsor Licence.
Most foreign nationals require permission to work in the UK, including UK waters, and this permission can be gained through sponsorship. Current practices see foreign nationals working in the fishing industry in UK waters on transit visas. This is classed as illegal working and has recently brought to light other issues, such as labour abuse.
Fishing companies are now being encouraged by the government to obtain a Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence, enabling them to recruit and legally employ skilled foreign nationals.
This is being supported by updates to the Shortage Occupation List Employers can currently sponsor workers within certain fishing and fish processing roles, under the Skilled Worker route. However, as a sponsor, you must ensure that you meet specific salary requirements, which for the Skilled Worker route is a minimum of:
£10.75/hour; and
£26,200/year; or
The ‘going rate’ for the role if it is higher than the minimum figures above.
The Home Office has now added certain roles within the fishing industry to the Shortage Occupation List. This means that employers will benefit from lower salary thresholds (£10.75/hour and £20,960/year; or 80% of the ‘going rate’) and candidates will benefit from lower visa application fees.
Roles that fall within this category:
Share Fisherman Trawler Skipper
Deckhands on large fishing vessels (only deckhands on large fishing vessels – 9 metres and above. The job must require 3 or more years’ full-time experience).
In an official communication from the Home Office released in April 2023, the Home Secretary is highlighting the ways in which they will be supporting the industry to sponsor foreign workers.
The standard processing time for a Sponsor Licence application is 8 weeks. For an additional £500, businesses can opt for the priority service which guarantees a decision within 10 working days. For new applications from fishing businesses, this fee will be levied, and priority service will be automatically added to applications.
Additionally, there is a promise for expedited visa decisions, at no extra cost. Currently, Skilled Worker visa applications from outside of the UK are decided within 15 working days. Applications from candidates within the fishing industry should therefore be considered within 8 and 10 working days.
The above should help to provide a quicker sponsorship process which in normal cases can take months to progress through.
Sponsor Licence Application -What you need to know In order to successfully apply for a sponsor licence, a business must be prepared to submit a number of supporting documents.
https://www.sponsorlicenceandvisas.co.uk/sponsor-licence-application-guide/
In addition to the general documents required, fishing companies must be aware that their vessels must be registered by law with the UK Ship Register, unless the vessels:
- Are salmon cobles.
- Have an overall length of 10 metres and under and are not propelled by an engine.
- Have an overall length of 10 metres and under and will only be used to fish for common eels.
Vessels must also hold a licence which was issued by the appropriate Fisheries Department. This licence can be obtained by contacting the Local Fisheries Office.
With the applicable supporting documents and regulatory requirements in place, the grant of a UKVI Sponsor Licence can open up new opportunities for fishing in UK waters.
IMMIGRATION SKILLED WORKER SPONSOR LICENCE FOR FISHING INDUSTRY IN THE UK
Immigration Sponsor licence can be obtained by fishing & seafood industry businesses to employ foreign overseas deckhands and trawler skippers on Skilled Worker in the UK. The skilled worker sponsor licence will assist the businesses struggling with the local staff shortages to fill the deckhand and trawler skipper vacancies. Due to the recent changes to UK immigration rules, transit visas are no longer permitted when in the UK waters.
Once the sponsor licence is granted to your business by the UK Home Office, your licence is valid for 4 years and it will give you the authority to employ overseas workers on work visas at your business. You will be able to renew your sponsor licence for further 4-year duration each time, for as long as you need it.
There is no limit on how many overseas migrant workers you can employ on Skilled Worker as long as the job roles are genuinely required by your business. This is called the ‘genuine vacancy test‘. In a nutshell, the jobs must be needed by your business for its operations, and not just created to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals to the UK. The Home Office provides their guidance on the Test in their sponsor guidance.
How to get a sponsor licence for fishing & seafood business
STAFF SHORTAGES IN THE UK FISHING & SEAFOOD SECTOR
Staff shortages are considered as one of the main problems faced by the fishing & seafood sector in the UK. According to the press articles labour has become an increased problem following Brexit. The problems increased further due to the Nationality & Borders Act 2022 which means that transit visa can no longer be used for fishers working in UK waters. You may want to read our article on the immigration changes for fishing industry.
WHAT KEY REQUIREMENTS YOUR BUSINESS HAS TO MEET WHEN APPLYING FOR A SPONSOR LICENCE
There are some requirements that UK businesses have to meet when applying for a skilled worker sponsor licence. We list these key requirements below for your reference:
- Already have trading presence and operate lawfully in the UK.
- Have relevant HR systems and procedures in place (we will guide you on this).
- Be honest, dependable and reliable (e.g. have HMRC/Tax, company affairs in good order and your Office Holders and Key Personnel must not have criminal offences and/or immigration offences on their record).
- Have at least one employee or Director who is ‘settled’ in the UK to fill the Key Personnel roles for your sponsor licence application.
- Be able to offer skilled jobs at the NQF Level 3 or above (the job must be skilled to at least level 3 NQF). The qualifying jobs are listed in the Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations. Further below we list the fishing industry jobs that are meeting the skill level for the Skilled Worker work visa.
- Be able to pay the minimum salary. Please see below for more details.
MINIMUM SALARY AND GENUINE VACANCY TEST FOR SPONSOR LICENCE
To meet the requirements for sponsor licence and work visa, you need to pay at least the minimum salary required for skilled worker visa. The key requirements are as follows:
Be able to pay the minimum salary required for the Skilled Worker visa (the minimum is normally not less than £26,200 gross per year OR the minimum for a particular job role, whichever of the two is higher. We recommend that you to read our other article on the minimum salary for Skilled Worker visa.
Regarding minimum salary, please note that from 7/08/2023 the Deckhand and Trawler Skipper jobs will be added to Shortage Occupation List and therefore will have minimum salary of £20,960 per year. We write about this update to Shortage Occupation List in our article on the Skilled Worker update 17/07/2023.
The Genuine vacancy test must be met. The jobs that you intend to offer to migrant workers must be genuinely required by your fishing business (i.e. those jobs are needed for your company’s operations and the jobs are not just created to facilitate the migrant’s entry to the UK) s the job must meet all the skilled worker visa requirements, including the minimum pay.
WHAT IS THE COST OF SPONSOR LICENCE AND WORK VISAS
The current application fee for sponsor licence is £536 for small sponsors or charities and £1,476 for other sponsors. There is an extra £500 fee if you decide to use the expedited processing.
The skilled worker visa shortage occupation is £479 and NHS Surcharge is £1,872, for 3-year visa. We prepared application fee calculator that will help you in understanding what fees you will have to pay.
The UK Government has recently announced changes to the visa fees and NHS Surcharge. You may want to read more about this in our article on the changes to Home Office fees.
FISHING JOBS ADDED TO SHORTAGE OCCUPATION LIST FOR SKILLED WORKERS
The below jobs will be added to the Shortage Occupation List on 7th August 2023. To support the fishing industry in becoming fully compliant with the immigration system following the implementation of Section 43 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, jobs in the fishing industry in the following occupations are also being added to the Shortage Occupation List:
• 5119 Agriculture and fishing trades not elsewhere classified (only fishing jobs added)
• 9119 Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations not elsewhere classified.
WHAT FISHING JOBS QUALIFY FOR UK WORK VISA – DECKHAND AND SKIPPER
Examples of the jobs that qualify for UK Skilled Worker work visa are listed below. This will give you an idea what jobs are accepted for the Skilled Worker work visa. The complete list of jobs is available in the Home Office Appendix Skilled Occupations.
5119 Agricultural and fishing trades not elsewhere classified
• Share fisherman• Trawler skipper
9119 Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations not elsewhere classified – ONLY the listed job titles are eligible in this occupation code and ONLY where the job requires the worker to have at least 3 years’ full-time experience in using their skills. This experience must not have been gained through working illegally.
• Deckhand on large fishing vessel (9 metres and above)
OCCUPATION CODES THAT ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR THE SKILLED WORKER
Some jobs (occupations) are specifically listed by the UK Home Office as not skilled enough for sponsored work visas. The minimum skill level required for Skilled Worker visa is NQF Level 3. The jobs that do not qualify for UK sponsored work visas in the fishing & seafood industry are listed below and for complete up to date list please always check Appendix Skilled Occupations.
9119 Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations notelsewhere classified – all jobs not listed in Table 1
Fishing jobs excluded from skilled worker visa