Under the points based system, employment-based immigration will be broken into five tiers. Tier 3 encompasses unskilled, temporary migration for employment that is largely seasonal in nature.

Tier 3 was designed to replace schemes such as the current Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) and the Sectors Based Scheme (SBS). However, the UK government has stated that Tier 3 will be suspended from implementation for an indefinite period of time.

The United Kingdom feels that it can source employees from within the European Union to meet the labour demands of employers that hire unskilled, seasonal labour. The government has recently started earmarking programs such as SAWS and SBS for nationals of Bulgaria and Romania, who have had temporary labour restrictions placed on both of their nations upon their accession to the European Union in 2007.

The changes to SAWS and the SBS have drawn criticism from key stakeholders such as the agricultural industry. Employers feel that they cannot meet labour demands with only EU migrant workers. If this is true, Tier 3 could become a reality in the future.

Contact Ambler Collins for a free assessment of your eligibility to apply. Contact us at info@amblercollins.com or phone +44 (0)20 7371 0213.

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