UK school ski trips to EU could be wiped out by Brexit visa rules | Brexit

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School ski trips that depend on British staff to outfit their European winter camps could be wiped out by Brexit after it emerged they face the same hurdles as the music and theater industries.

Just like rock groups and musical artists, monitors who work on the tracks in France, Italy or elsewhere in the EU are now required to have a visa if they are working in Europe, even if not. is that for a week at a time.

Before the pandemic, Robert McIntosh, managing director of Interski, took 250 groups a year involving 10,000 to 12,000 children to Aosta in Italy.

Now he doesn’t know if he can survive, with visas for 600 instructors costing £ 300 per visit. Typically, ski schools hired instructors for one, two, or three weeks at a time to reflect the school peaks for the December vacation and February semester.

But he also doesn’t know how he will be able to continue to employ the 40 to 50 people he brings to Italy throughout the season.

“I am facing a battle on two fronts. Brexit throws uncertainty into everything. The cost increase due to visas will be around 100%. You don’t have to be an economist to know it’s not going to be sustainable, ”he said.

“It is a disaster and there is hardly anything said by the government, they have not provided us with any information on how we are working this.”

His warning came two years after companies in the ski industry warned of the loss of 25,000 jobs if they could not hire UK staff in ski resorts and chalet villages after Brexit.

Lincolnshire-based ski instructor Nick Orgles, who has worked with school trips for the past 20 years, said: “Since Brexit we’ve all lost our jobs, our passion. The UK government has nothing in place to allow us to continue working in the EU.

“I would normally go down three, four or five times a year to teach the students to ski in the valley. I can’t do this anymore.

He says his experience is “the tip of the iceberg” and that the same visa requirements will hit other sports instructors in industries such as sailing and rock climbing.

And it echoes the concerns of angry musicians that the government has not reached a visa-free deal with the EU for creatives.

Last week Sir Elton John said he was “livid” with the government, warning that the UK music industry could lose “a generation of talent” due to post-Brexit restrictions on touring.

However, not all ski school trips were affected. Hugues Raulet, who runs Halsbury Travel in Nottingham, said the only problem he anticipated was border delays.

Indeed, his company employs local staff who do not need a work visa.



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