Home Office
The Seasonal Worker route is for a person who wants to come to the UK to do seasonal horticulture work or poultry production work. A person on the Seasonal Worker route can stay for a maximum period of six months in any 12-month period if they are working in a role in the horticulture sector and if they are a poultry production worker they can stay for a period of time beginning no earlier than 2 October and ending no later than 31 December each year.
A partner and children are not permitted to apply as dependants on this route.
The Seasonal Worker route is not a route to settlement.
SAW 1.1. A person applying for entry clearance as a Seasonal Worker must apply online on gov.uk on the specified form as follows:
| Applicant | Specified form |
|---|---|
| EEA national with a chipped passport | Either: Temporary Worker using the UK Immigration: ID Check app; or the forms listed below for applicants outside or inside the UK (as relevant) |
| Applicants outside the UK | Temporary Worker visa |
- SAW 1.2. An application for entry clearance as a Seasonal Worker must meet all the following requirements:
- (a) any fee must have been paid; and
- (b) the applicant must have provided any required biometrics; and
- (c) the applicant must have provided a passport or other travel document which satisfactorily establishes their identity and nationality; and
- (d) the applicant must have a Certificate of Sponsorship that was issued to them no more than 3 months before the date of application.
SAW 1.3. The applicant must be aged 18 or over on the date of application.
SAW1.3ZA. If the Certificate of Sponsorship confirms that the role is in the poultry production sector, the date of application must be on or before 15 November in each year.
SAW 1.3A. DELETED.
SAW 1.3B. DELETED.
SAW 1.3C. DELETED.
SAW 1.4. An application which does not meet all the validity requirements for the Seasonal Worker route may be rejected as invalid and not considered.
SAW 2.1. The applicant must not fall for refusal under Part 9: grounds for refusal.
Entry requirements for a Seasonal Worker
SAW 3.1. A person seeking to come to the UK as a Seasonal Worker must have applied for and obtained entry clearance as a Seasonal Worker before they arrive in the UK.
Certificate of Sponsorship requirement for a Seasonal Worker
- SAW 4.1. The applicant must have a Certificate of Sponsorship for the job they are planning to do, which must:
- (a) confirm the applicants name, that they are being sponsored as a Seasonal Worker, details of the job and salary the sponsor is offering them; and
- (b) include a start date, stated by the sponsor, which is no more than three months after the date of application; and
- (c) not have been used in a previous application which was either granted or refused (but can have been used in a previous application which was rejected as invalid, made void or withdrawn); and
- (d) not have been withdrawn by the sponsor or cancelled by the Home Office; and
- (e) confirm that the role conforms with all relevant legislation, such as the relevant Agricultural Wages Order rate where this applies, and the Working Time Regulations; and
- (f) confirm that they are employed in either the horticulture or the poultry production sector. Work in in the horticulture sector means those growing:
- (i) Protected Vegetables those grown in glasshouse systems; or
- (ii) Field Vegetables those grown outdoors, including vegetables, herbs, leafy salads and potatoes; or
- (iii) Soft Fruit those grown outdoors or under cover e.g. in glasshouses or polytunnels. Includes strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, blueberries and all ribes and rubus species; or
- (iv) Top Fruit (Orchard Fruit) - trees that bear fruit e.g. apples, plums, cherries, apricots; or
- (v) Vine and Bines both twining or climbing flexible stems of certain plants, e.g. hops is a bine, and grapes is a vine; or
- (vi) Mushrooms typically covers Agaricus bisporus species but can also include more exotic species (typically grown indoors); or
- (vii) Bulbs and cut flowers, such as daffodils, grown outdoors and indoors; or
- (viii) Pot plants, such as seasonal bedding plants like pansies, violas, geraniums and poinsettias; or
- (ix) Hardy ornamental nursery stock such as Christmas trees, shrubs, roses, ornamental trees and perennials; or
- (x) Tree and forest nurseries.
- Work in the poultry production sector means undertaking one of the following roles:
- (i) Butcher (SOC 2020 occupation code 5431); or
- (ii) Bird/game dresser (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (iii) Killer and plucker (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (iv) Plucker (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (v) Poulterer (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (vi) Poultry processor (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (vii) Poultry sticker (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (viii) Trusser (SOC 2020 occupation code 5433); or
- (ix) Food operative (SOC 2020 occupation code 8111); or
- (x) Poultry catcher/handler (SOC 2020 occupation code 9111); or
- (xi) Poultry vaccinator (SOC 2020 occupation code 9119); or
- (xii) Poultry meat packer (SOC 2020 occupation code 9132); and
- (g) confirm either:
- (i) if the applicant is being sponsored in the horticulture sector or under SOC 2020 occupation code 8111, 9111, 9119 or 9132 in the poultry p
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