Agricultural jobs in the UK with work permit support fall into two very different worlds. The first is seasonal: tens of thousands of overseas workers arrive each year on the Seasonal Worker visa to pick fruit, pack vegetables and process poultry, recruited through a handful of licensed operators and employed for up to six months. The second is permanent and skilled: farm managers, agronomists, veterinary surgeons and agricultural engineers who can be sponsored on the Skilled Worker visa by licensed farm businesses, with a route to settlement.
Most people searching for this topic are looking for the first world, and it is the one with the clearest rules: a fixed annual quota, a published list of operators, a guaranteed minimum of 32 paid hours a week at the National Living Wage, and a worker welfare framework enforced by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. This guide walks through that route for the whole of the UK, then explains the costs, your rights on the farm, and what a longer-term agricultural career looks like for someone who wants more than a season.
The Seasonal Worker visa: how it works
The Seasonal Worker visa lets you work in UK horticulture, which covers fruit, vegetables, flowers, plants and vines, for up to six months in any twelve-month period, or in poultry production from early October to the end of December. You cannot apply to a farm directly. The Home Office licenses a small number of scheme operators as sponsors, and those operators recruit workers overseas, issue the Certificate of Sponsorship and place workers with growers. The government has confirmed the route will run until at least 2029, with annual quotas that have recently been around 43,000 horticulture places and 2,000 poultry places; check GOV.UK for the current year’s allocation.
Eligibility
- Aged 18 or over, with a valid passport.
- A Certificate of Sponsorship from a licensed scheme operator (the operators are listed on the Seasonal Worker visa pages of GOV.UK).
- Enough money to support yourself on arrival, usually £1,270 held for 28 days, unless the operator certifies maintenance.
- A tuberculosis test certificate if you are applying from a listed country, which includes most of Africa and South Asia.
- No English language requirement and no minimum qualification.
What you cannot do
You cannot bring dependants, take a second job outside the scheme, switch to another visa in the UK, or count the time towards settlement. Poultry workers must apply by mid-November for that year’s season. After six months of horticultural work you must leave the UK and cannot return on the same visa until a full six months has passed.
Which jobs are covered, and what they pay
Every Seasonal Worker must be paid at least the National Living Wage, £12.71 an hour from April 2026, regardless of age, and must be offered at least 32 hours of paid work each week even when weather or crop conditions reduce the work available. Piece rates are common in picking, but your pay must still average at least the legal minimum for the hours you work. Typical roles and what they realistically earn are set out below.
| Role | Where in the UK | Season | Typical pay (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft fruit picker (strawberries, raspberries) | Kent, Herefordshire, Scotland, Norfolk | April–October | £12.71–£15 per hour on piece rates |
| Top fruit picker (apples, pears) | Kent, Worcestershire, Suffolk | August–November | £12.71–£14 per hour |
| Vegetable harvester and packhouse operative | Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire | Year-round peaks | £12.71–£13.50 per hour |
| Glasshouse and nursery worker (tomatoes, cucumbers, ornamentals) | Yorkshire, West Sussex, Lea Valley | February–November | £12.71–£13.50 per hour |
| Vineyard worker | Kent, Sussex, Hampshire | May–October | £12.71–£14 per hour |
| Poultry processing operative | Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Wales, Northern Ireland | October–December | £12.71–£14 per hour plus overtime |
Fast, experienced pickers on piece rates can earn noticeably more than the minimum in peak weeks, but you should budget on the minimum. A full six-month season at 40 hours a week on the National Living Wage comes to roughly £13,000 gross before accommodation and tax. For Scotland-specific roles and the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board rates, see our guide to farm jobs in Scotland with the Seasonal Worker visa.
Costs: what you pay and what the farm pays
- Visa application fee: around £300 as of 2026, paid by you to the Home Office; confirm the current fee on GOV.UK.
- Immigration Health Surcharge: not charged for Seasonal Worker visas of six months or less, which means you can use the NHS for urgent care but should still consider travel insurance for the journey.
- Travel: you pay your own flights to and from the UK. Operators must not charge you recruitment fees, and some growers reimburse part of the travel for returning workers.
- Accommodation: normally on-farm caravans or shared housing. The farm may deduct a charge, but if it is set against the minimum wage the deduction is capped at the statutory accommodation offset, roughly £10–£11 a day in 2026.
- Tax and National Insurance: deducted through PAYE. Most seasonal workers earn below the annual personal allowance and can claim a tax refund from HMRC after they leave.
- Sending money home: open a basic UK bank account on arrival (operators usually help), and use a regulated transfer service rather than cash agents.
Your rights on the farm
The UK scheme has a worker welfare framework that is worth understanding before you sign anything. Scheme operators are licensed by the GLAA, must visit workers during the season, and must respond to complaints. Growers must provide a written contract, payslips, safe accommodation inspected to a recognised standard, and protective equipment. You are entitled to paid holiday accruing at 12.07 percent of hours worked, rest breaks, and the right to change to another grower within the scheme if a placement fails. If you are asked to pay for your job, have your passport withheld, or are charged for things that were promised free, contact the GLAA, the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline or ACAS; the helplines are free and confidential, and operators can lose their licence for breaches.
How to apply: step by step
- Find the licensed operators. GOV.UK publishes the current list of Seasonal Worker scheme operators. Only these organisations can sponsor you; any other “agent” is either a sub-contractor of one of them or not genuine.
- Register with one or more operators through their official websites. Applications usually open in winter for the spring season and in late summer for poultry. You will complete an online profile, upload your passport and sometimes attend a video interview or a short physical assessment.
- Accept a placement and receive your Certificate of Sponsorship reference, which states the grower, location, start date and pay.
- Book your tuberculosis test at an approved clinic if required, and gather proof of funds unless the operator certifies maintenance.
- Apply online for the Seasonal Worker visa on GOV.UK, pay the fee, and attend a biometric appointment at a visa application centre. Decisions typically take about three weeks.
- Arrange travel. Buy your own ticket once the visa is granted; operators often coordinate group arrivals and transport from the airport.
- On arrival, sign the contract, check your accommodation against what was promised, keep every payslip, and open a bank account.
Longer-term agricultural careers with sponsorship
The Seasonal Worker visa has no path to staying, but UK agriculture does sponsor skilled roles. Licensed farm businesses, agricultural contractors, veterinary practices and agri-food companies can use the Skilled Worker visa for occupations at graduate level that meet the £41,700 general salary threshold or the occupation’s going rate, and the Temporary Shortage List has at times included some agricultural and food-processing roles below that level; check the current list on GOV.UK.
- Veterinary surgeons registered with the RCVS are in chronic shortage, especially in farm animal practice, and are routinely sponsored.
- Farm and estate managers with agricultural degrees and management experience, particularly on large arable and dairy units.
- Agronomists, crop scientists and soil specialists working for distributors and research organisations.
- Agricultural engineers and precision-farming technicians maintaining machinery, robotics and irrigation systems.
- Dairy herd managers on large herds, where the role has been treated as skilled by some sponsors; eligibility depends on the current occupation coding, so verify before applying.
Entry-level farm work, tractor driving and general packhouse roles remain below the sponsorship threshold and are open only to people who already have the right to work in the UK. If you are already in the UK with work rights, the arable and food-processing economies of Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire are a good place to start; our article on unskilled jobs in Kingston upon Hull covers that region, and cheap UK housing for immigrants shows how far wages go in rural counties.
How to protect yourself
Seasonal farm work attracts organised networks of unofficial agents, especially in countries with high demand such as Nepal, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nigeria and Kenya. Licensed operators do not charge recruitment fees, do not use WhatsApp-only recruiters, and do not ask for payments to “secure” a place. Visa fees are paid only on the GOV.UK website. If someone asks for money for a job offer, a visa “guarantee”, or a “medical” at a non-approved clinic, walk away and report them to the operator named on the offer and to the GLAA. Check that any employer or agency appears on the GOV.UK operator list or holds a GLAA licence, which you can search on the GLAA website.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which countries can apply for the UK Seasonal Worker visa?
There is no nationality restriction; operators recruit wherever they have established partners, which in recent years has included Central Asia, South East Asia, Nepal, parts of Africa and Latin America. Check each operator’s website for the countries it currently recruits from.
Can I come back next year?
Yes. Many growers prefer returning workers and operators prioritise them, as long as you left the UK on time and had no compliance problems. You must spend at least six months outside the UK before a new horticulture visa can start.
Are 32 hours a week guaranteed even if there is no work?
Yes. Growers must pay for at least 32 hours each week of your placement, whether or not the weather or the crop allows that much work. If you are regularly given less, report it to your operator.
Can I switch from the Seasonal Worker visa to a Skilled Worker visa?
No. The Seasonal Worker visa does not allow switching inside the UK. To take a sponsored skilled agricultural role you would need to apply from abroad after leaving, with a qualifying job offer and salary.
Is agricultural work available in Northern Ireland and Wales under the scheme?
Yes. The scheme is UK-wide, and placements exist in Welsh horticulture and in poultry processing in Northern Ireland and Wales, though the majority of horticultural places are in England and Scotland.
Bottom line
Agricultural jobs in the UK with work permit support are real and well-regulated, but almost all of them are seasonal: up to six months on the Seasonal Worker visa, recruited only through licensed operators, paid at least £12.71 an hour with 32 hours a week guaranteed, and with no route to stay. Apply only through the operators listed on GOV.UK, never pay a recruitment fee, understand the accommodation and travel costs before you commit, and if you want a permanent future in UK farming, aim for the skilled roles that licensed employers can genuinely sponsor.