UK Home Office U-turn to allow visa-free work for migrants

An 11th hour Home Office U-turn will allow migrants to work on offshore wind farms without visas. The last-minute decision to extend the controversial visa waiver has been criticised by one MP and the RMT union.

Hull East MP Karl Turner calls the decision "a further blow to UK seafarers".

“The offshore wind sector is a growing industry and it is vital that British seafarers can compete fairly for these jobs,” he said. “We have a good number of seafarer ratings in my own constituency in east Hull that are unable to compete for these jobs due to being unfairly undercut by foreign non-EU seafarers paid much lesser exploitative rates of pay. The Government needs to end this exploitation immediately and give our own skilled British seafarers the opportunity to compete for these jobs.”

The Home Office about-face has also been criticized for creating confusion because wind farm operators were advised in January to start preparing their workforces for stricter immigration rules.  

Immigration and visa expert Yash Dubal, director of A Y & J Solicitors, says that his clients have been frustrated by the last-minute nature of the changes.

He explained: “Several had invested time and resources in making alternative arrangements to meet their staffing needs, motivated by a justifiable apprehension that the scheme would end on July 1. Workers’ contracts had not been renewed. They are now frustrated. The decision to extend the waiver also highlights the problem of acute worker shortages within the industry, which is real and ongoing.”

The Offshore Wind Workers’ Concession (OWWC) exempts migrants working on offshore wind projects in UK territorial waters from the need to get a UK work visa. It was due to expire on 1 July. But on July 2, the Home Office issued a notice extending the scheme for a further year. In a statement it said the concession was ‘outside of the Immigration Rules’ and applies to workers ‘essential to the construction and maintenance of wind farms within UK territorial waters’.

The concession continues to allow foreign national workers leave to enter the UK until 1 July 2022 ‘for the purpose of joining a vessel engaged in the construction and maintenance of a wind farm within UK territorial waters’.

The scheme began in 2017 and had been extended on several occasions. In January, when the controversial new points-based immigration system became law, the Home Office issued a statement to wind farmers reiterating its intention to end the waiver. Officials advised operators to review the status of their workforces. Many employed time and resources to mitigate the changes.

The waiver has previously been criticised by unions who say it takes jobs from British seafarers and allows wind farm operators to employ cheap foreign labour who are often out at sea for 12 hours or more a day and paid less than the UK minimum wage, with some working for less than £4-an-hour.

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