Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2022 to Question 93748 on Immigration Controls: Shipping, what the status is of deckhands in the (a) fishing and (b) merchant navy with respect to the Shortage Occupation List.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), recommended that this occupation, and others, be added to the list of eligible occupations for Skilled Worker visas and to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) following their review in 2020. However, the Government was of the view that wide scale changes to the SOL relating to medium skilled occupations - which only recently became eligible for Skilled Worker visas at that time – should not be made until the Government could assess how the UK labour market developed in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Government therefore accepted only the first part of the MAC’s recommendation - to recognise deckhands on large (9m+) fishing vessels as meeting the skills threshold for the Skilled Worker route, where they have 3 years’ relevant experience. Although this job was not included on the SOL, it become eligible for Skilled Worker visas where a sponsoring employer is offering a salary of at least £25,600, in line with other non-shortage occupations.

The Government continues to monitor how the UK labour market is developing and also agreed to the MAC’s recommendation for a more regular pattern of reviews for the SOL, with one expected to take place later this year.