Member

Despite this and the importance of migrant workers filling those gaps and doing the essential work of catching, the immigration White Paper fails to mention a route to allow the ongoing recruitment of migrant fishers. Currently, UK fishing vessels that operate outside of UK territorial waters do not have to comply with work visa rules to employ migrant fishers. Instead, they can rely on an exemption under Section 8 of the Immigration Act 1971. As part of this exemption, fishers are given a code 7 contract seamen stamp, which permits them to enter the UK to join a ship, which will leave the UK in what is termed a reasonable amount of time, usually within seven days.