Migrant fishers will be ‘forced to pay the price’ for the UK government’s failure to properly implement visa rule changes, says the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
Recent changes to tighten up regulations around recruiting foreign workers have closed an exploitative loophole around the use of the Seafarers’ Transit Visa but the ITF warns that poor planning and a lack of notice means a good change could be bad news for workers.
Previously UK fishing boat owners had been using the Transit Visa, which is intended for seafarers joining international ships departing UK waters within 48 hours, as a way to avoid paying workers, arguing that they weren’t working in the UK. This has now been outlawed and workers must now apply for a Skilled Worker Visa instead.
The ITF welcomes this change but is concerned that the law has been implemented before an alternative system is in place, meaning workers will face sudden deportation.
“Right now, there are as many as two thousand non-EEA fishers in the UK, employed by UK companies on UK flagged vessels, but entering the UK via the transit visa,” said ITF’s fisheries expert and campaign lead for the UK, Chris Williams.
‘Forced to leave the UK’
“Many will be forced to leave the UK and may be unable to return due to the English language test requirements for the correct work permit.
“These are people who signed contracts and came here in good faith, worked hard for the industry, only to wake up one day to find their immigration status illegal, when it wasn’t clear the day before or when they were employed.
“It’s quite incredible that this Conservative government expects these fishers to pack their bags overnight and presumably leave this country empty handed – without even the wages owed to them for the remainder of their contracts.
“We have to remember that migrant fishers from Ghana, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, have formed the backbone of the UK fishing industry during a period when the sector chose not to hire locals or pay UK wages. Frankly, Britain owes them.”
Steps must be taken to support fishers
Williams said that it was not too late for the UK government to protect workers during the transition to the new visa system.
One provision that could make a real difference, he said, was to allow crew currently working in the UK to apply for their new Skilled Worker Visa from within the country, rather than being made to stop working and go home to apply.
Applying from within the UK is allowed for other applicants already here. Williams said allowing fishers the same right made sense, to secure supply chains and avoid disruption for an industry dependent on non-EEA labour.
