What a move by fate as the UK wants now to recruit more than 10,000 foreign workers to work as divers and food workers in the country. Why this has happened has an interesting story behind it. So far, in view of the acute labor shortage, the UK government has exceptionally approved 10,500 work visas for foreign skilled workers. This move of the UK has shocked many immigration experts who have thought after the new immigration policy this would not be possible. This is why because the UK has continuously urged that it only needs highly skilled immigrants and not labor.
According to the Ministry of Transport announced in London, the new move will bring 5,000 truck drivers and 5,500 skilled workers from other important industries such as poultry processing into the country. The visas should be available from October, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
After Brexit, European Economic Area and Switzerland’s residents will show their authentic passport instead of the Identity card while landing in the UK. This is official news by the UK government. The implementation of this restriction will be from 1st October 2021.
With the temporary visas, skilled workers should be able to work in the UK until Christmas Evening. The government hopes that the move will help replenish supermarket shelves and toy shops before Christmas. The package of measures unveiled on Saturday by the Department for Transport also includes a scheme to train 4,000 people as new HGV drivers.
The British Department for Transport said in a statement that 5,000 fuel tanker and food truck drivers would be allowed to work in the country for three months in the prelude to Christmas to provide short-term relief for the commercial hauling industry.
According to estimates, the lack of around 100,000 truck drivers in Great Britain has far-reaching consequences for consumers as well. For weeks, some goods have been hard to come by, and there are gaps on the shelves in supermarkets. Most recently there were bottlenecks at numerous petrol stations – as a result, many Brits panic buying fuel. Other branches of the industry also complain of an enormous shortage of labor. Leading supermarket chains warned of a food shortage before Christmas.
Cautious departure from Johnson’s restrictive immigration policy
One reason for the bottlenecks in the strict immigration rules since leaving the EU, which have made it difficult for skilled workers to move in.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had repeatedly stressed that he wanted to end Britain’s dependence on foreign labor. In view of the petrol shortage and the problems with food deliveries, however, Johnson’s government came under massive pressure to act.
Overall, an estimated 200,000 E.U. citizens left Britain during the pandemic and have not returned.
In addition to the temporary visas, the government is looking to attract more truck drivers to a package of measures to increase the number of local truck drivers in the short term. Among other things, the army is to assign driving instructors to be able to offer additional driving tests. The Ministry of Education is supposed to help with training. In addition, almost a million letters are to be sent to drivers who have one.
The government is unblocking £10 million (€11.7 million) to create “skills boot camps” to train 3,000 people during “free, short, intensive” courses. The other 1,000 people will be trained in local courses funded by the government’s adult education budget.