The UK in 2022 issued six-month seasonal workers scheme (SWS) visas to 4,341 labourers from Kyrgyzstan last year versus just 304 in 2021, according to UK Home Office figures.
Thousands more were given to workers from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In fact, of around 34,500 SWS visas issued by the UK in 2022, 44% were awarded to people from these four ‘Stans’.
Most of the workers were employed as harvest-pickers, typically gathering berries.
In 2021, Ukrainians accounted for nearly two-thirds of the nearly 30,000 SWS visas issued to harvest-pickers. But the war with Russia meant many could not return for seasonal work in the UK in 2022. The UK, finding itself short of such workers, with difficulties already caused by Brexit meaning the loss of easy single market access to EU workers, thus turned to Central Asia to find new labour.
UK-focused work agencies have set up offices and fostered official ties in the region and expect the inflow of Central Asians to rise further, according to The Economist. The publication noted that the SWS scheme also helps to project soft power, an important factor for British and European officials who want to reduce the Stans’ reliance on Russia, the traditional destination for Central Asian work migrants.
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