Blog Post

If you are looking for the list of UK shortage occupations, the first thing to know is that the list you are probably looking for no longer exists. The Shortage Occupation List was replaced by the Immigration Salary List in April 2024, and a second list was added in July 2025. What they do for you is narrower than what the old list did.

An earlier version of this page promised that a shortage occupation cut your required salary to 80 per cent of the going rate. That was true once and it is the single most important thing on this page to correct, because it is the sort of claim someone negotiates a contract around.

The two lists, and what each one actually does

Read the right hand column of the first row twice. The Immigration Salary List lowers the general floor and leaves the going rate alone. So if your occupation’s going rate is GBP 38,000, being on the list changes nothing about what you must be paid: you still need GBP 38,000. The old 80 per cent discount genuinely reduced the going rate. Nothing does that now.

Both lists are due to lapse on 31 December 2026, and the government has reserved the right to end them sooner. That makes them a closing window rather than a route to plan a career around.

The change that matters more than either list

On 22 July 2025 the minimum skill level for a Skilled Worker visa rose from RQF 3, which is A level equivalent, to RQF 6, degree level. Around 180 occupations stopped qualifying on that date.

That is why the Temporary Shortage List exists: it keeps a subset of those sub-degree roles sponsorable for a while longer. If your occupation is below degree level, that list is not a bonus, it is the only thing keeping the route open to you, and it has an expiry date.

One detail people miss. The Home Office assesses the skill level of the occupation code on your certificate of sponsorship, not your own qualifications. Holding a degree does not help if the job is coded below degree level.

Why this page does not list the occupations

It used to, as at 1 July 2021, complete with occupation codes. Every part of that snapshot is now wrong: the list was replaced, the codes were renumbered when UK immigration moved from SOC 2010 to SOC 2020 in April 2024, and the salary figures beside them were calculated on a discount that no longer applies.

A snapshot of a list that is reissued by ministerial order, and is due to expire within the year, does a reader more harm than good. So take yours from the source: the official list of eligible occupations, and confirm the code with your employer before you rely on it.

What to do with this

1. Get your occupation code from your employer, and check it against the current eligible occupations list. The code decides everything.
2. Check whether the code appears on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, and note that both may end during 2026.
3. Find the going rate for that code. That is your real salary floor, not the general threshold and not 80 per cent of anything.
4. If your occupation is below degree level and not on either list, the Skilled Worker route is closed to you and it is worth looking elsewhere rather than waiting.

Our UK Skilled Worker visa guide sets out how the two salary floors work together, and the Immigration Salary List post covers how the ISL came about and what it replaced. For health roles, the Health and Care Worker visa has its own much lower thresholds and is usually the better route.

Browse UK shortage jobs with visa sponsorship on our board, and check any employer against the Home Office register of licensed sponsors. The route’s own guidance is on gov.uk.

Last checked September 2026. The Immigration Salary List and Temporary Shortage List are scheduled to lapse on 31 December 2026 and may end sooner, and occupation codes and going rates are revised separately. Confirm all three on gov.uk before applying.