Foreign seamen’s applications kept upfront – they’ll all be handled the same (9)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Fifteensquared have:

for definition: ‘handle’ as in a name, which will be shared / “the same” between namesakes anagram/”Foreign” of (seamen’s a k )*, with the a k from the “upfront” first letters of a -[pplications] k -[ept]