‘Lift ban on UK seasonal work visas’

Foreign employment professionals have demanded that the government take initiatives to lift the ban on sending Nepali workers to the UK on seasonal visas.

In an event held on Wednesday, they said that the government should make efforts to lift the UK-imposed ban on taking seasonal visa workers from Nepal to the agricultural sector after 2022. 

Chris Roebuck, a consultant at GoFund International Limited, the organizer of the program, said Nepali workers are losing opportunities. "There is a lot of demand in agriculture for migrant workers on seasonal visas in the UK," he said, "but Nepal is deprived of that opportunity." According to him, the UK is bringing in 45,000 migrant workers annually. But as the UK has stopped taking Nepali workers, Nepal has lost this opportunity.

The UK stopped taking workers from Nepal from 2023, citing reasons such as workers being cheated by manpower companies while sending them through seasonal visas from Nepal, and the illegal stay after visa expiry. A total of 3,600 Nepali workers went to the UK on seasonal visas in 2022. 

But now, Roebuck said, the Nepal government should initiate efforts to lift the ban on seasonal workers from Nepal. "Until 2029, the UK will take workers on this visa," he said: If the current situation continues, Nepali workers will miss out on this opportunity. The government of Nepal should take the initiative in this matter.

Other participants at the program, including representatives of the business community, also expressed concern that Nepali workers will continue to be deprived of opportunities if the government of Nepal does not work with the UK government to send seasonal workers.