Central Asian countries are among the main sources of seasonal workers for the UK, SIA has reported.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are particularly high in the rankings for the provision of such workers to the post-Brexit United Kingdom. In 2022, the UK issued more than 6,000 work visas to people from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, almost one quarter of all such visas issued during the year. The expectation is that the figure will be higher this year. British farms at this time of year are typically anxious to find enough workers for the upcoming harvesting season. Complaints of British fruit rotting in the fields with no-one to pick it have become all too common since the UK exited the EU and its agriculture and horticulture sectors thus lost easy access to European seasonal workers.

Uzbekistan placed second behind Ukraine for seasonal migrant workers in the UK last year. Kyrgyzstan ranked fourth.

At the end of May, the UK’s Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) concluded agreements with the labour departments of both Central Asian countries. The parties agreed to exchange information about seasonal workers bound for the UK and in the UK, partly with a view to protecting their rights.

GLAA director of strategy Darryl Dixon called the signed agreements "historic."

“We saw a sharp upturn in the number of seasonal workers coming to the UK from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in 2022 and our intelligence indicates that this is only going to keep rising in the next few years,” Dixon said.