diff --git a/apps/e2e/src/seafarer-registration.spec.ts b/apps/e2e/src/seafarer-registration.spec.ts
index 2f03ff5ed..b68b7fc07 100644
--- a/apps/e2e/src/seafarer-registration.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/e2e/src/seafarer-registration.spec.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,12 @@ import { approveRegistration, runWorkflow } from './support/workflow';
  */
 
 /**
- * Fills the fields `RequireSeafarerProfile` refuses to open the wizard without.
+ * Fills the profile the seafarer wizard prefills its Identity Details step
+ * from.
+ *
+ * No longer a precondition for reaching the wizard — that redirect is gone and
+ * the step collects these itself — but a populated profile is the returning
+ * applicant's case, and it is the prefill that keeps them from retyping.
  *
  * They are split across two tabs, and every tab's panel is in the DOM whether
  * or not it is showing — so each one has to be selected before its inputs can
diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/features/licensing/pages/LicenseApplicationPage.tsx b/apps/portal/src/app/features/licensing/pages/LicenseApplicationPage.tsx
index 39cbdd9d3..5352f520c 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/features/licensing/pages/LicenseApplicationPage.tsx
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/features/licensing/pages/LicenseApplicationPage.tsx
@@ -227,12 +227,17 @@ export function LicenseApplicationPage() {
     detail?.application?.formData,
   ]);
 
-  // Generic fill for every field the config marks `readOnly` with a
-  // `source` — e.g. seafarer registration's read-only Identity Details step,
-  // which shows what's already on the profile instead of asking again.
-  // `readOnly` fields are never sent by the applicant and the server skips
-  // them at validation, so this is display-only; the profile itself is what
-  // an edit has to go through.
+  // Generic fill for every field the config gives a `source` — the profile
+  // value the applicant would otherwise retype. Seafarer registration's
+  // Identity Details step is the case that drives this: it collects name,
+  // gender, DOB and national ID *in the wizard* rather than sending the
+  // applicant to `/profile` first, so those fields are editable and this is a
+  // prefill, not a display.
+  //
+  // Editable sourced fields are filled only while still blank. Re-running
+  // this effect (a refetched profile, a saved draft) must not overwrite what
+  // the applicant has since typed — for a `readOnly` field the profile stays
+  // authoritative, so those keep tracking it.
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!profile || !config) return;
     const context = { user: profile.user, profile };
@@ -242,10 +247,14 @@ export function LicenseApplicationPage() {
       const next = { ...prev };
       for (const section of config.licenseType.formSchema.sections) {
         for (const field of section.fields) {
-          if (!field.readOnly || !field.source) continue;
+          if (!field.source) continue;
+          const current = next[section.key]?.[field.key];
+          const untouched =
+            current === undefined || current === null || current === "";
+          if (!field.readOnly && !untouched) continue;
           const value = readSourcePath(context, field.source);
           if (value === undefined || value === null || value === "") continue;
-          if (next[section.key]?.[field.key] === value) continue;
+          if (current === value) continue;
           next[section.key] = { ...next[section.key], [field.key]: value };
           changed = true;
         }
diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/features/profile/components/RequireSeafarerProfile.tsx b/apps/portal/src/app/features/profile/components/RequireSeafarerProfile.tsx
index 02cca1bf0..5856d706d 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/features/profile/components/RequireSeafarerProfile.tsx
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/features/profile/components/RequireSeafarerProfile.tsx
@@ -1,24 +1,14 @@
-import { useEffect } from 'react';
 import { Center, Loader } from '@mantine/core';
-import { Navigate, useLocation, useParams } from 'react-router-dom';
-import { useTranslation } from 'react-i18next';
-import { notify } from '@ema-platform/ui';
-import {
-  PROFILE_FIELD_SECTION,
-  useCurrentProfile,
-  type ProfileRequirement,
-} from '@ema-platform/auth';
+import { Navigate, useParams } from 'react-router-dom';
+import { useCurrentProfile, type ProfileRequirement } from '@ema-platform/auth';
 
 /**
- * Seafarer registration is filled in from the profile (nationality, ID,
- * names, contact details) — the server refuses an application missing them,
- * so they're asked for up front instead of at submit time.
+ * The identity the seafarer wizard needs before it can produce a registration.
  *
- * Only the fields the Personal, Maritime Profile and Address tabs actually
- * mark required — matches `profileSchema` / `addressSchema`, so the gate is
- * always satisfiable by finishing those tabs and never blocks on an optional
- * field (place of birth, region/city/woreda, emergency contact) the forms
- * don't star.
+ * No longer a gate on opening the wizard: the Identity Details step collects
+ * these itself, so an applicant with an empty profile starts in registration
+ * rather than being sent to `/profile` to prepare for it. Kept because
+ * `ProfilePage` still reads it to show what a seafarer registration will need.
  */
 export const SEAFARER_PROFILE_REQUIREMENT: ProfileRequirement = {
   fields: [
@@ -42,35 +32,26 @@ export const SEAFARER_PROFILE_REQUIREMENT: ProfileRequirement = {
 const REGISTRATION_TYPE_KEY = 'SEAFARER_REGISTRATION';
 
 /**
- * Sends an applicant with an incomplete profile to `/profile` before they can
- * reach seafarer registration. Wraps `/seafarer-registration` directly and
- * `/licensing/:typeCode/apply` when `typeCode` is the seafarer type — the
- * latter is the shared wizard route every licence type renders through, so
- * without it the gate is a decoration a deep link skips.
+ * Guards the seafarer wizard against the one case it cannot serve: an
+ * applicant who already holds a seafarer number.
  *
- * Fires before the wizard starts, not mid-application, so nothing is lost —
- * unlike the case `ProfileRequirementGate`'s doc comment warns against
- * (mid-flow redirects on the old, deleted setup wizard).
+ * It deliberately does *not* gate on profile completeness any more. Selecting
+ * Seafarer Registration now opens the wizard, and the Identity Details step
+ * collects name, gender, DOB, marital status, nationality and national ID
+ * itself — an empty profile is a thing the wizard fills, not a reason to be
+ * sent away from it. Those answers reach the profile when a reviewer approves
+ * the registration (`CompletionEffectService.registerSeafarer`).
+ *
+ * Wraps `/seafarer-registration` directly and `/licensing/:typeCode/apply`
+ * when `typeCode` is the seafarer type — the latter is the shared wizard route
+ * every licence type renders through, so without it a deep link skips this.
  */
 export function RequireSeafarerProfile({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
-  const { t } = useTranslation();
   const { typeCode } = useParams();
-  const { pathname } = useLocation();
-  const { isLoading, isFetching, error, gapsFor, profile } = useCurrentProfile();
+  const { isLoading, error, profile } = useCurrentProfile();
 
-  // Shared wizard route — only the seafarer type is gated here.
+  // Shared wizard route — only the seafarer type is checked here.
   const gated = !typeCode || typeCode === REGISTRATION_TYPE_KEY;
-  const gaps = gated ? gapsFor(SEAFARER_PROFILE_REQUIREMENT) : [];
-  const redirecting = gated && !isLoading && !error && !isFetching && gaps.length > 0;
-
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (!redirecting) return;
-    const fields = gaps.map((field) => t(`profileFields.${field}`, field)).join(', ');
-    notify.info(t('profileGate.seafarerRedirect', { fields }));
-    // Fire once per redirect, not on every render while gaps/gapsFor are
-    // recreated — the toast content is captured at the moment it fires.
-    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
-  }, [redirecting, pathname]);
 
   if (!gated) return <>{children}</>;
 
@@ -91,24 +72,10 @@ export function RequireSeafarerProfile({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode
     return <Navigate to="/seaman-book" replace />;
   }
 
-  // A failed lookup must not lock anyone out — the server still refuses the
-  // application for a profile it can't fill in from.
+  // A failed lookup must not lock anyone out — an unreadable profile says
+  // nothing about whether this applicant is already registered, and the
+  // server refuses a duplicate registration regardless.
   if (error) return <>{children}</>;
 
-  if (gaps.length === 0) return <>{children}</>;
-
-  // Gaps while a save is still landing are not an answer yet. Saving a
-  // profile tab invalidates this query and the applicant may already be
-  // headed back here in the same tick — deciding on the pre-save cache would
-  // bounce them off the screen they just finished.
-  if (isFetching) {
-    return (
-      <Center h={200}>
-        <Loader />
-      </Center>
-    );
-  }
-
-  const target = PROFILE_FIELD_SECTION[gaps[0]];
-  return <Navigate to={`/profile#${target}`} replace />;
+  return <>{children}</>;
 }
diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/am.ts b/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/am.ts
index b1f4d1cf3..16ace7369 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/am.ts
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/am.ts
@@ -234,8 +234,8 @@ export const am: Translations = {
     addDetails: 'እነዚህን መረጃዎች ጨምር',
     viewProfile: 'ሙሉ መገለጫ ይመልከቱ',
     seafarerReason: 'የባህረኞች ምዝገባ የሚዘጋጀው ከመገለጫዎ ነው — እነዚህ መረጃዎች ራሱ ይሞላሉ።',
-    seafarerRedirect: 'የባህረኛ ምዝገባ ለማድረግ መገለጫዎን ያጠናቅቁ። የሚያስፈልጉ፡ {{fields}}',
-    seafarerBanner: 'የባህረኛ ምዝገባ ለማድረግ የመገለጫ መረጃ ያስፈልጋል።',
+    seafarerBanner:
+      'የባህረኛ ምዝገባ እነዚህን መረጃዎች ይጠይቃል፤ ከጸደቀ በኋላም መገለጫዎን ያዘምናል። እዚህ አስቀድመው ቢሞሏቸው እዚያ እንደገና መተየብ አይኖርብዎትም።',
   },
 
   profileSections: {
diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/en.ts b/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/en.ts
index 52e486ba0..81220e078 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/en.ts
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/i18n/locales/en.ts
@@ -234,8 +234,8 @@ export const en = {
     viewProfile: 'View full profile',
     seafarerReason:
       'Seafarer registration is built from your profile — these details fill it in for you.',
-    seafarerRedirect: 'Finish your profile to register as a seafarer. Still needed: {{fields}}',
-    seafarerBanner: 'Profile details are needed for seafarer registration.',
+    seafarerBanner:
+      'Seafarer registration asks for these details and updates your profile once approved. Filling them in here first saves you typing them there.',
   },
 
   profileSections: {
diff --git a/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e8b78c852
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+allowBuilds:
+  core-js: set this to true or false
+  esbuild: set this to true or false
+  nx: set this to true or false