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:
- Licensed sponsors / employers do not need to conduct a Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT)
- 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:
- Lower visa fees for the migrants and dependants
- 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 |
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