Guidance

Seamen arriving in the UK: caseworker guidance

Immigration staff guidance on considering applications from seamen arriving in the UK.

• From: Home Office and UK Visas and Immigration
• Published: 8 July 2014
• Last updated: 11 November 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 11 November 2025

     Updated to reflect the replacement of ‘Part 9: grounds for refusal’ with ‘Part Suitability’ in the Immigration Rules.

  2. 20 August 2024

     Formatting corrections and a minor correction made to policy for VN and NVNs seeking entry as a visitor

  3. 7 June 2024

     Updated in line with changes brought in by section 43 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (working in UK waters), including guidance on section 11A of the Immigration Act 1971 and offshore worker notification requirements made under section 11B of that act.

  4. 31 December 2020

     Updated for end of EU transition.

  5. 28 May 2019

     Updated guidance document.

  6. 8 July 2014

     First published.

Documents

Seamen arriving in the UK: caseworker guidance (accessible version)

HTML

Seamen

PDF, 362 KB, 30 pages

Details

UK Visas and Immigration guidance on how staff make decisions about applications from seamen arriving in the UK as operational crew of a ship or as passengers coming to join a ship as operational crew.