The NFU has appealed to the government to end the indecision over visa applications from students from Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova to work under SAWS, after identifying the problem and writing to Home Office minister, Des Brown.
NFU president Tim Bennett said: “SAWS operators have been doing all they can to source alternative sources of workers to plug the labour gap, however they are being hampered in this task by the continuing silence from the Home Office on this issue.”
Students from these countries had expected to come to the UK to work on the seasonal fruit harvest but the recent visa application suspension has delayed their already processed applications. In turn, farms using SAWS have had to seek alternative workers from other countries, such as China, to meet the labour shortage at this busy time of year. Bennett added: “The most straightforward solution to the problem would be to allow bona fide students from Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova to come to the UK and pick the harvest as was originally indented.”
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