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Shortage Occupations List UK

Shortage Occupations List Under UK Immigration Rules.

Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) compiles the UK shortage occupation list (SOL)periodically.

Shortage Occupation List is an official list of skilled occupations or professions where there is shortage of skilled labour force within the domestic UK market. Based on MAC recommendations, the UK Government includes the jobs on Shortage Occupation List where there are not enough British Citizens or Settled Persons to fill these jobs.

The UK Government then allows some concessions in terms of allowing migrant workers to come to the UK under current Tier 2 of work visas to fill these skilled roles.

Current shortage occupation list is compiled by MAC in May 2020. There are two shortage occupation lists. One list is for entire UK and the other list is only for the Scotland.Shortage occupations list is included in the Immigration Rules as Appendix K.

UK Employers who are on the Register of Sponsors for Tier 2, who will automatically be registered under new points-based immigration scheme, have some advantages as under:

  1. Licensed sponsors / employers do not need to conduct a Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT)
  2. Priority allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS)

Similarly, the skilled workers who come to the UK to fill the vacancies for jobs listed on Shortage Occupation List enjoy some benefits as under:

  1. Lower visa fees for the migrants and dependants
  2. Exemption from the minimum income threshold for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) application i.e. settlement.

If you are a UK employer and wish to employ a migrant worker on one of the jobs appearing under shortage occupations, you may be exempt from conducting Resident Labour Market Test. If the job in not on SOL, you must advertise the job opening or vacancy at least for 28 days to comply with Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) before sponsoring a non-EEA skilled worker from abroad and carry out full recruitment exercise before employing the migrant worker, which consumes a lot of time.

Under the new points-based immigration system from 2021 the requirement of resident labour market test will be waived so that employers will not need to advertise the job and wait for at least 1 month to complete the recruitment process.

Under the NEW PBS for Skilled Workers you may be able to score Tradeable points to reach the total of 70 points if you have already scored 50 mandatory points. Please visit Skilled Worker Points Calculator to find if you are likely to be eligible to apply for a Skilled Worker Visa for the UK.

Shortage Occupation List includes roles under Science, Technology, IT, Medicine, Education, Healthcare, Research, Creative and other sectors where there is acute shortage in the UK domestic market.

If you are interested in finding out if your job title or profession is included in Shortage Occupation List please see the list below for the SOL for entire UK and SOL for Scotland.The Shortage Occupation List keeps changing based on the demand and supply within the UK market and the current list includes the following occupations:

Immigration Rules Appendix Shortage Occupation List

Shortage Occupations for the Skilled Worker route

Table 1: Shortage occupations where applicants for entry clearance or permission to stay may be paid 80% of the going rate for the occupation code

Occupation code and any further criteria Shortage occupation in
  England Scotland; Wales Northern Ireland
1181 Health services and public health managers and directors - all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
1242 Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors - all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2111 Chemical scientists " only jobs in the nuclear industry - Yes - -
2112 Biological scientists and biochemists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2113 Physical scientists - only the following jobs in the construction-related ground engineering industry:

engineering geologist
hydrogeologist
geophysicist
Yes Yes Yes Yes
2113 Physical scientists " only the following jobs in the oil and gas industry:

geophysicist
geoscientist
geologist
geochemist
technical services manager in the decommissioning and waste areas of the nuclear industry
senior resource geologist and staff geologist in the mining sector
Yes Yes Yes Yes
2114 Social and humanities scientists " only archaeologists Yes Yes Yes Yes
2121 Civil engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2122 Mechanical engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2123 Electrical engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2124 Electronics engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2126 Design and development engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2127 Production and process engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2129 Engineering professionals not elsewhere classified " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2135 IT business analysts, architects and systems designers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2136 Programmers and software development professionals " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2137 Web design and development professionals " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2139 Information technology and communications professionals not elsewhere classified " only cyber security specialists Yes Yes Yes Yes
2216 Veterinarians " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2425 Actuaries, economists and statisticians " only bio-informaticians and informaticians Yes Yes Yes Yes
2431 Architects " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2461 Quality control and planning engineers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
3111 Laboratory technicians - all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
3411 Artists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
3414 Dancers and choreographers " only skilled classical ballet dancers or skilled contemporary dancers who meet the standard required by internationally recognised UK ballet or contemporary dance companies.

The company must be endorsed as being internationally recognised by a UK industry body such as the Arts Councils (of England, Scotland or Wales).
Yes Yes Yes Yes
3415 Musicians " only skilled orchestral musicians who are leaders, principals, sub-principals or numbered string positions, and who meet the standard required by internationally recognised UK orchestras.

The orchestra must be a full member of the Association of British Orchestras.
Yes Yes Yes Yes
3416 Arts officers, producers and directors " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
3421 Graphic designers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
5215 Welding trades " only high integrity pipe welders, where the job requires 3 or more years' related on-the-job experience. This experience must not have been gained through working illegally. Yes Yes Yes Yes
6146 Senior care workers - all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes

Table 2: Shortage occupations in eligible health and education occupation codes where going rates are based on national pay scales

Occupation code and any further criteria Shortage occupation in
  England Scotland; Wales Northern Ireland
2211 Medical practitioners " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2212 Psychologists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2213 Pharmacists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2217 Medical radiographers " all jobs (including radiotherapy practitioners / technologists) Yes Yes Yes Yes
2219 Health professionals not elsewhere classified " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2221 Physiotherapists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2222 Occupational therapists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2223 Speech and language therapists " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2231 Nurses " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
2314 Secondary education teaching professionals " only teachers in maths, physics, science (where an element of physics will be taught), computer science and modern foreign languages Yes Yes Yes Yes
2314 Secondary education teaching professionals " only teachers in Gaelic - Yes - -
2315 Primary and nursery education teaching professionals " only Gaelic medium teachers - Yes - -
2442 Social workers " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
3213 Paramedics " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes
6141 Nursing auxiliaries and assistants " all jobs Yes Yes Yes Yes

Table 3: Shortage Occupations which are otherwise not eligible for the Skilled Worker route

Occupation code and any further criteria Related job titles Shortage occupation in
    England Scotland; Wales Northern Ireland
6145 Care workers and home carers

Note: private households or individuals (other than sole traders sponsoring someone to work for their business) cannot sponsor Skilled Worker applicants.
• Care assistant
• Care worker
• Carer
• Home care assistant
• Home carer
• Support worker (nursing home)
Yes Yes Yes Yes

Disclaimer

HSMP Immigration Services UK Ltd. is striving hard to provide comprehensive and accurate information - including points calculators for various visa categories - to help you in finding if you would qualify under the visa category you are interested in to migrate to the UK. While every care is taken in selecting the content for the website and calculators, you should be aware the UK Immigration Rules keep changing from time to time. The information available on this site may be relevant on the date of publication of this page however the immigration related information does not constitute the legal advice. We recommend that you seek independent immigration advice from regulated immigration advisers or law firms specialising in immigration matters.

In case of any doubt, please contact HSMP Immigration Services UK Ltd..

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