Guidance on immigration procedures for seafarers entering the UK to join ships
The UK Chamber of Shipping announced that the Home Office has published revised guidance on immigration procedures for seafarers entering the UK to join ships, take shore leave and be repatriated.
The UK Chamber called for the guidance for Embassy and Border Force staff to be revised following a series of incidents in which seafarers, principally from the Philippines, were wrongly denied entry into the UK.
Difficulties arose where the date of a ship’s departure from UK territorial waters was not known. Meanwhile some officials mistakenly believed that non-EEA seafarers joining non-scheduled cargo services or ships undergoing refit in the UK, required work permits.
The UK Chamber:
- Held several meetings with senior Home Office staff to explain members’ concerns and put forward proposals to clarify the guidance, especially in respect of the highlighted areas of difficulty.
- Drafted proposals for new sections dealing specifically with spot market vessels, vessels on call and vessels undergoing refit.
- Called upon the Home office to acknowledge a definition of “scheduled domestic freight service” that the UK Chamber and the Department for Transport (DfT) had agreed some years earlier. The revised guidance document contains all of the UK Chamber’s proposals, along with the latter definition.
The result is a set of revised guidance that meets virtually all of the UK Chamber objectives.
It is hoped that chamber members will benefit by the clarification in respect of situations where inappropriate interpretations of the law have led to crew members being refused entry clearance in the past.
The UK Chamber secured the co-operation of the Home Office to excellent effect and, although the process has been lengthy, the outcome justifies the time and care taken by UK Chamber staff and members in the preparation of its proposals.
Commenting on the news, UK Chamber CEO Guy Platten said:
“This work is testament both to the expertise of chamber staff and the relationship we have fostered with the Government. We recognise the political difficulties faced by Government in dealing with aspects of immigration, but we know that pragmatic solutions can be found when the case for change is so strong.“
Source and Image Credit: UK Chamber