Immigration specialist Sohan Sidhu, from Ellisons, explains how the temporary visa scheme works

The Home Office has issued temporary visa schemes for HGV drivers and for poultry workers.

The scheme for HGV drivers is for those employed to transport food goods.

The drivers must have an HGV licence recognised for use in the UK and the Home Office scheme itself applies to EU, EEA and Swiss licence holders only.

The drivers must also hold an HGV (category C or C+E) licence.

The new scheme for poultry workers covers various different work categories including butchers and meat packers.

The Home Office has issued 5,500 temporary visas available for poultry

workers and 4,700 available for HGV food drivers and the deadline for applying for poultry workers is today (November 12, 2021) and the temporary visas will expire on December 31.

The deadline for applying for HGV drivers is December 1 and such visas will expire on February 28, 2022.

In terms of the application process, it is the UK employer who needs to apply to the Home Office scheme and all applications are made through one of the current four approved scheme operators.

The current operators all have different application processes, so employers will need to contact these organisations directly in order to ascertain the application process and procedure.

-- For advice on this or any other immigration matter, contact Sohan Sidhu by email at sohan.sidhu@ellisonssolicitors.com or by telephone on 01284 763333

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