The United Kingdom's Border Agency said Friday that Filipino seafarers who have been issued transit visas are not allowed to work in the UK fishing industry. The chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Jennifer Jardin-Manalili, said the Border Agency is getting strict following discovery that many Filipino seafarers working in Britain's fishing industry use transit visa to enter UK. Manalili said the UK transit visa is issued for non-European Union seafarers, including Filipinos joining UK vessels that are traveling international waters for a longer period. But this visa has been used by seamen who are offered to work in UK's fishing industry to circumvent the law requiring them to get work visas. Those seeking to work legally in the UK fishing industry must posses valid work visas, said Manalili, adding tht their employment contracts must fully comply with UK employment law and standards, particularly on the minimum wage. The UK Border Agency said some Filipinos working as fishermen in Scotland and Northern Ireland are often exploited and get salaries below the UK minimum wage, and live in harbors or on board fishing vessels. Despite the harsh living condition, many Filipino workers in the UK fishing industry opted to stay owing to scarce job opportunities back home. In a related development, the British embassy in Manila said it is implementing a new point-based system in assessing applications for entry to the United Kingdom . The new system replaces some 80 ways to work and study in the UK and consists of five tiers: Tier 1 for highly skilled workers, Tier 2 for skilled workers with job offer; Tier 3 for low skilled workers filling specific temporary labor shortages; tier 4 for students; and Tier 5 for youth mobility and temporary workers. There are 18,545 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in UK in 2008, records at the POEA showed. OFW deployment to the UK went down by eight percent from 18,347 in 2004 to 16,799 in 2005, the records further showed.
