UK lacks workers for harvest
Seasonal workers from non-EU countries will be issued a six-month visa. This measure will be tested starting spring 2019 and will last until December 2020, when the transition period after the UK's exit from the European Union is expected to end.
British Environment Secretary Michael Gove noted that the decision was made after representatives of the agricultural sector presented the government with a number of compelling arguments in favor of opening the market to seasonal workers from outside the EU. According to their information, the sector needs more than 80,000 workers during the harvest period.
"From the lettuce of East Anglia to Scottish strawberries, we want to guarantee our producers the ability to grow, sell and export British food products," AFP quotes Gove as saying.
The National Farmers' Union of the UK welcomed the permission to recruit workers from non-EU countries. Union President Minette Batters noted that the labor shortage has increased significantly in the last few years. The announcement of the UK's imminent exit from the EU was compounded by a decline in unemployment in the countries from which most people came. Previously, seasonal work in the UK was mainly done by citizens of Romania and Bulgaria.
As RFI notes, citizens of non-EU countries already come for seasonal work in Germany and Ireland.