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# Who Will Pour the Dram? Staff, Visas and Highland Beds
- URL: https://www.ciaran-murray.com/highland-hospitality-staff-visas-housing/
- Published: 2026-10-01T15:52:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T15:52:01.000Z
- Description: I can start work in Inverness without a visa. A chef from Lisbon or Manila can no longer be newly sponsored. And for anyone who can come, the first question is where they'd live.
- Author: Ciaran Murray
- Tags: People & Craft

Earlier this year I traded a 2.30am close in Cork for a hotel above the Lakes of Killarney. The best hour at Aghadoe was the first one, with the machine warming up and the mist still on the lake. In late November I move to the Highlands. The bags can wait. The paperwork, it turns out, is the easy part.

The question isn't whether I can work. Hospitality jobs in the Scottish Highlands are open to me the morning I arrive, because I'm Irish. Under the Common Travel Area, "if you are a British or Irish citizen, you can work in either country … without needing any permission from the authorities" (HM Government, 2026a, section 2). No sponsor licence, no salary threshold, no English test. The question I can't yet answer from Cork is the one that matters: where will I live?

That question is the argument of this essay. In the Highlands, the hiring problem has moved from finding people to housing them and being allowed to hire them, and the trade's own reluctance on pay is part of how it got here.

## The door that closed in July 2025

On 22 July 2025 the UK raised the skill threshold for sponsored Skilled Worker visas back to degree level (RQF 6), cutting "around 180 eligible occupations" (Home Office, 2025b, paras 5.1–5.2). Hotel managers, restaurant managers, chefs, and catering and bar managers were moved to a table that, in the rules' own words, sponsors "may ONLY" use for people already on a Skilled Worker visa granted before that date (Home Office, 2025a, p. 28). A Highland hotel can still hire a chef who already holds a Skilled Worker visa elsewhere in the UK. In general, it can no longer sponsor one from abroad.

The escape valve was meant to be a Temporary Shortage List. It was scoped to the government's Industrial Strategy, and the Migration Advisory Committee read that as eight growth sectors, none of them hospitality (Migration Advisory Committee, 2025). In July 2026 it said no to the devolved nations too, Scotland included: "We do not recommend any Devolved Nation-specific additions to the TSL at this stage" (Sumption, 2026, p. 2).

And for any route that does stay open, the bar keeps rising. From 8 January 2026, new Skilled Worker grants need English at B2 rather than B1\. From January 2027, the Graduate route, which lets international students stay on and work after their degree, falls to 18 months (Home Office, 2025c, paras 5.22–5.23, 5.26).

The Scottish Government has re-tabled its Rural Visa idea, which the Migration Advisory Committee had supported as a pilot: three to five pilot communities, with a working cap of 300 migrants in each over the pilot's five years (Scottish Government, 2026, p. 4). At full size that is about 1,500 people across rural Scotland, roughly 300 a year. Highland accommodation and food services alone employed around 15,000 people in 2023 (Highland Council, 2026c). Around 30–35% of hospitality workers change employer each year (Fraser of Allander Institute, 2023). If the Highlands matches that, a trade that size has something like 4,500 posts a year to refill, though many are filled by people already in the trade moving between employers. Even so, it's a pilot, not a pipeline.

At Fota's winter events, on a 3,000-cover day, you could hear a short team before you saw one.

![The Alexandra Hotel in Fort William, a hospitality employer in the Scottish Highlands, on a wet November day](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/fort-william.jpg)

The Alexandra Hotel on the Parade, Fort William, November 2023\. Photo © Jim Barton ([cc-by-sa/2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ciaran-murray.com)), [geograph.org.uk/p/7657486](https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7657486?ref=ciaran-murray.com)

## Nowhere to sleep

![New timber-clad terraced homes for affordable rent nearing completion on a building site in Portree, Skye](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/housing-struan.jpg)

Sixteen homes for affordable rent nearing completion in Portree, Skye, December 2020 (the photographer's description). Photo © John Allan ([cc-by-sa/2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ciaran-murray.com)), [geograph.org.uk/p/6701777](https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6701777?ref=ciaran-murray.com)

So the staff have to come from inside the UK and Ireland, which brings us back to my question. Highlands and Islands Enterprise put it bluntly to the Scottish Parliament in 2024: tourism and hospitality businesses "are having to operate sub-optimally because they can't recruit enough staff due to a lack of accommodation". It had a pipeline of 27 staff-accommodation projects, mostly in hospitality, with a potential ask of over £800,000 (Highlands and Islands Enterprise, 2024, p. 4). In its business panel late in 2024, lack of accommodation was named by 42% of the employers who reported barriers to recruitment (Highlands and Islands Enterprise, 2025a).

![A block of new council homes in green safety netting and scaffolding beside a road in Portree, hills behind](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/housing-portree.jpg)

A Highland Council development of eight homes for affordable rent under construction in Portree, June 2016 (the photographer's description). Photo © Richard Dorrell ([cc-by-sa/2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ciaran-murray.com)), [geograph.org.uk/p/4980266](https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4980266?ref=ciaran-murray.com)

Highland Council declared a Housing Challenge in June 2024, and its own figures show the gap. A forecast for the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport says 24,000 new homes are needed over ten years to meet the needs of a growing workforce, against about 12,000 typically built in a decade (Highland Council, 2025). That is 2,400 a year. In 2025/26 Highland completed 880 homes of all kinds, down from 1,000 the year before; 499 of them were affordable (Highland Council, 2026b, p. 7). The first mid-market flats for key workers are 21 two-bedroom flats in Inverness, though "key worker" isn't defined as hospitality (Highland Council, 2026b, p. 12).

![White-harled new houses along a quiet street at Tornagrain new town near Inverness under a blue summer sky](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/tornagrain.jpg)

New houses at Tornagrain, east of Inverness, July 2018\. Photo © valenta ([cc-by-sa/2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ciaran-murray.com)), [geograph.org.uk/p/5855196](https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5855196?ref=ciaran-murray.com)

Some employers build their own. Auchrannie Resort on Arran has spent more than £3.5 million on staff accommodation, and HIE added a warning: employer purchases can push up house prices and reduce the stock for everyone else (Highlands and Islands Enterprise, 2024, p. 7). Arran is in the Highlands and Islands, not the Highland Council area; no published Highland example was found for this essay. The Fair Work Convention found that tied housing "add\[s\] significant cost to the employer and come\[s\] with clear fair work issues for the worker". Workers told it that tied housing "limit\[s\] their family life in the longer-term", and rural employers agreed it makes "it harder to maintain a settled workforce" (Fair Work Convention, 2024, p. 15). I'm open to living in. A room above the bar is a good start in a new country. It is a hard place to raise a family, or even to stay past a second season.

## The mirror

There is an uncomfortable part of this for the trade, and it starts before the door closed. In 2023 an employer sponsoring a chef had to pay at least the general threshold of £26,200, since the chef going rate of £17,100 sat below it, and the median salary on chef visa applications was £26,000 (Migration Advisory Committee, 2023, pp. 28, 42). That is almost exactly what a full-time Real Living Wage job pays today. Sponsorship was possible at close to living-wage pay. When the Migration Advisory Committee asked employers about chef shortages, there was "a consensus amongst respondents that they did not favour any increases in wages because this would harm companies' profits". Those were 11 responses to a call for evidence, not every employer. But the committee refused to add chefs to the shortage list because "we do not want the immigration system to further contribute to downward pressure on wages" (Migration Advisory Committee, 2023, pp. 42–43).

The trade helped keep that door narrow before the Home Office shut it. And it won't reopen as cheap labour. For most chefs still eligible, the going rate is now £33,400 a year, or £17.13 an hour; workers sponsored under the older transitional rules can stay on a lower rate, £25,000 for a chef (Home Office, 2025a, pp. 50, 105). A full-time job on the National Living Wage of £12.71 comes to about £24,785; on the Real Living Wage of £13.45, about £26,228, both at 37.5 hours a week for 52 weeks (HM Government, 2026b; Living Wage Foundation, n.d.). At the main rate, a sponsored chef now costs more than a quarter above a full-time Real Living Wage job.

I've seen both sides of that ledger. At Brick Lane I wrote the team a guide so the fortieth cocktail on a Saturday tasted like the first. On Monday I sit WSET Level 2 in Spirits, with Wines in November, all self-funded, because in ten years in the trade no employer ever offered. Payroll is either a liability or the thing you train, and the bars I've run only ever made money the second way.

## The case that it's really about money

The strongest counter-argument is that people and beds aren't the real constraint at all; money is. The Common Travel Area and the rest of the UK still supply plenty of workers. In Scotland's 2024 employer survey, the share of hotels and restaurants with a vacancy fell to 18%, from 30% in 2022 (Scottish Government, 2025). In HIE's 2025 panel, more firms named the cost of labour (69%) than its availability (66%) as a constraint (Highlands and Islands Enterprise, 2025b). Pay is still the sector's weak point: 45.8% of hospitality employees earned below the Real Living Wage in 2023 (Fair Work Convention, 2024, p. 7). When costs rose in late 2023, 62.0% of accommodation and food businesses absorbed the increases and 23.6% cut staff hours (Fair Work Convention, 2024, p. 34). A business cutting hours is short of margin, not of people. On that view the fix is wages and productivity, not visas or beds, and this month's Budget matters more than any Home Office rule. Community Land Scotland put it more sharply still: "The tourism sector continues to ignore the impact their industry has on sustaining the local communities and places which their visitors value" (Community Land Scotland, 2024, p. 10).

Much of that is right, and the trade should hear it. But margin and shortage sit side by side. In March 2024, 27.9% of accommodation and food businesses still reported difficulty recruiting, against 22.1% of all businesses (Fair Work Convention, 2024, p. 34). The vacancy figures are Scotland-wide, and the council's own evidence puts Highland's ratio of people wanting work to vacancies among the lowest in Scotland, at 3 across all sectors in 2024 (Highland Council, 2026c). The open pool is real, but it has to find somewhere to sleep, and a higher wage can't build a flat that doesn't exist. Pay decides whether someone wants to come. Housing decides whether they can.

Anyone who has run a bar knows the sound of a Tuesday with too many staff on, and a Saturday with too few.

## Filling hospitality jobs in the Scottish Highlands

- **Pay the Real Living Wage, and say so in the advert.** It's £13.45 an hour, and next year's rate is announced on 15 October (Living Wage Foundation, n.d.). Advertise the new one the day it lands.
- **Treat staff housing as capital, not a perk.** The visitor levy proposal lists a Housing Investment Fund for "tourism workforce accommodation" as one option within a community strand worth an indicative £1.35 million a year (Highland Council, 2026a, p. 33). Push for that option to be chosen, and to be real money.
- **Recruit where the door is open:** the UK and Ireland, which means competing on beds and conditions as much as on wages.

The plan hasn't changed: a room, a team and a trade, somewhere with the hills out the window, and to stay. First, somewhere to sleep.

On Friday 9 October, the Highlands and Islands Thistle Awards are presented in Inverness, and I'll be in the room. On Monday 12 October: what the night says about who the Highlands thanks, and who does the work.

## References

Community Land Scotland (2024) 'Written evidence', in Scottish Parliament Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, paper LGHP/S6/24/13/1, 30 April. Available at: [https://www.parliament.scot/\~/media/committ/8154](https://www.parliament.scot/~/media/committ/8154?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Fair Work Convention (2024) *Fair work in the hospitality industry: inquiry report*. Edinburgh: Fair Work Convention. Available at: [https://www.fairworkconvention.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Fair-Work-Hospitality-Inquiry-Report-2024.pdf](https://www.fairworkconvention.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Fair-Work-Hospitality-Inquiry-Report-2024.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Fraser of Allander Institute (2023) *New report on the future of hospitality in Scotland*. 21 June. Available at: [https://fraserofallander.org/new-report-on-the-future-of-hospitality-in-scotland/](https://fraserofallander.org/new-report-on-the-future-of-hospitality-in-scotland/?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highland Council (2025) *Highland Workforce Housing Survey*. 3 November. Available at: [https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/17059/highland-workforce-housing-survey](https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/17059/highland-workforce-housing-survey?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highland Council (2026a) *Proposal for a Visitor Levy in Highland*. Report HC/24/26, 25 August. Available at: [https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/87427/Item%203.%20Proposal%20for%20a%20Visitor%20Levy%20in%20Highland](https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/87427/Item%203.%20Proposal%20for%20a%20Visitor%20Levy%20in%20Highland?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highland Council (2026b) *Highland Housing Challenge Update*. Report HC/12/26, 14 May. Available at: [https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/86849/4.%20Highland%20Housing%20Challenge%20-%20Update](https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/86849/4.%20Highland%20Housing%20Challenge%20-%20Update?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highland Council (2026c) *Highland Local Development Plan Evidence Report, Chapter 8* (draft). Available at: [https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/6111/hldp-evidence-report-chapter-8-draft](https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/6111/hldp-evidence-report-chapter-8-draft?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (2024) 'Written evidence', in Scottish Parliament Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, paper LGHP/S6/24/13/1, 30 April. Available at: [https://www.parliament.scot/\~/media/committ/8154](https://www.parliament.scot/~/media/committ/8154?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (2025a) *HIE published latest business survey results*. 4 March. Available at: [https://www.hie.co.uk/latest-news/2025/march/04/hie-published-latest-business-survey-results/](https://www.hie.co.uk/latest-news/2025/march/04/hie-published-latest-business-survey-results/?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (2025b) *Business confidence increases in Highlands and Islands business survey*. 15 September. Available at: [https://www.hie.co.uk/news-and-blogs/news/2025/september/15/business-confidence-increases-in-highlands-and-islands-business-survey/](https://www.hie.co.uk/news-and-blogs/news/2025/september/15/business-confidence-increases-in-highlands-and-islands-business-survey/?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

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HM Government (2026b) *National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates*. Available at: [https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates](https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Home Office (2025a) *Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 997, 1 July 2025*. Available at: [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68629c9b3464d9c0ad609d33/E03394848\_-\_HC\_997\_-\_Immigration\_Rules\_Changes\_\_Web\_Accessible\_.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68629c9b3464d9c0ad609d33/E03394848%5F-%5FHC%5F997%5F-%5FImmigration%5FRules%5FChanges%5F%5FWeb%5FAccessible%5F.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

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Home Office (2025c) *Explanatory memorandum to the statement of changes in Immigration Rules (HC 1333), 14 October 2025*. Available at: [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691315157a0ccd6a3aad7f3f/EM+\_to+Statement+of+changes+in+Immigration+Rules+-+HC+1333\_.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/691315157a0ccd6a3aad7f3f/EM+%5Fto+Statement+of+changes+in+Immigration+Rules+-+HC+1333%5F.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Living Wage Foundation (n.d.) *What is the real Living Wage?* Available at: [https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage](https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Migration Advisory Committee (2023) *Review of the Shortage Occupation List 2023*. Available at: [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651557b86dfda600148e37ba/Review\_of\_the\_Shortage\_Occupation\_List\_2023.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651557b86dfda600148e37ba/Review%5Fof%5Fthe%5FShortage%5FOccupation%5FList%5F2023.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

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Scottish Government (2026) *Migration: supporting the future of Scotland's economy and communities*. 29 August. Available at: [https://www.gov.scot/publications/migration-supporting-future-scotlands-economy-communities/pages/4/](https://www.gov.scot/publications/migration-supporting-future-scotlands-economy-communities/pages/4/?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

Sumption, M. (2026) *Letter to the Home Secretary on the Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report*. 23 July. Available at: [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a608e86712f1615191a2400/Letter\_to\_Home\_Secretary\_TSL\_Stage\_2\_Review.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a608e86712f1615191a2400/Letter%5Fto%5FHome%5FSecretary%5FTSL%5FStage%5F2%5FReview.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 1 October 2026).

**Photographs:** Lough Leane from Aghadoe Heights: Ciaran Murray. New homes, Lower Struan Road, Portree: John Allan. Council homes, Portree: Richard Dorrell. Tornagrain: valenta. The Alexandra Hotel, Fort William: Jim Barton. All CC BY-SA 2.0, geograph.org.uk.