Temporary Work \u2013 Seasonal Worker visa<\/a>) must provide biometrics at a visa application centre, comprising a 10-digit fingerprint scan and a digital facial photograph.<\/p>\nAs of March this year, the UK\u2019s Home Office has tightened immigration rules, including digital pre\u2011departure checks and increased scrutiny of job roles and salary compliance.<\/p>\n
National Association of Agricultural Contractors chief executive Jill Hewitt said the NAAC is welcoming the new concession with caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is different to previous years, in that it requires application for a concessionary visa, which has a charge of \u00a3682 and requires biometrics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shearer must also comply with previous concessionary requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hewitt said those admitted under the concession will be admitted for a maximum period of three months and the conditions attached to their stay will restrict their permission to work to employment with a specific employer or contractor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means the latest expiry of leave under this concession would be 30 September 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hewitt said the conditions and requirements of the concession are:<\/p>\n
The applicant is genuinely seeking entry for the purpose of undertaking employment or providing service as a sheep shearer; and<\/p>\n
The applicant will be able to maintain and accommodate themself without recourse to public funds; and<\/p>\n
The applicant will leave the UK at the end of their stay; and<\/p>\n
The applicant arrives in the UK for this purpose between 1 April and 30 June; and<\/p>\n
The applicant provides a work contract confirming the nature of their employment and their remuneration.<\/p>\n
This concession will be effective from immediate effect and will be available to those seeking entry between 1 April and the 30 June 2026.<\/p>\n
Ms Hewitt said if shearers still come this could avert any animal welfare issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hewitt said the NAAC will be lobbying to extend the concession as it is difficult to see with a world shortage of shearers how we can get sufficient UK professional shearers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need trained, competent and experienced shearers to protect animal welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hard enough to encourage young people into farming, and shearing is more demanding than the average job!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shearing sheep in the United Kingdom. Image \u2013 British Wool. \u00a0 AUSTRALIAN and New Zealand shearers wanting to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-478127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n