Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the eligibility criteria of the Frontier Worker Permit on shipping crew availability for UK vessels in (1) 2023, (2) 2024, and (3) 2025.

The Frontier Worker permit scheme implements our obligations under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements to protect the rights of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who were frontier working in the UK (that is employed or self-employed in the UK but residing elsewhere) before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, for as long as they continue to be frontier workers.

We do not publish data on Frontier Worker permits by occupation, and so data is not available on Frontier Worker permits issued to shipping crew.

Those coming to the UK to work after the end of the transition period are not protected by the Citizens’ Rights Agreements and are therefore required to apply under the points-based immigration system. This enables migrants to come to the UK to work in the shipping and wider offshore sectors, subject to meeting the skills and salary thresholds and other requirements.

There are specific arrangements for transiting crew who are joining ships in the UK or taking temporary shore leave. In many cases, crew can exceptionally enter the UK without an entry clearance and undertake limited forms of work.