Data analyst visa: a shortage list job with a deadline
Data analysts (code 3544) can still be sponsored from abroad, at £41,700, but only on a certificate of sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026, and new applicants cannot bring dependants.
Data analyst salary check
Minimum salary for this job
£41,700
Your salary of £42,000 meets it, with £300 to spare.
| Points option A | £41,700 floor |
| Going rate (full time) | £34,900 |
| Going rate per hour | £17.90 |
| Your pay per hour | £21.54 |
| Visa fee, up to 3 years (outside the UK) | £819 |
| Health surcharge, 3 years | £3,105 |
On the Temporary Shortage List: certificate of sponsorship must be issued before 31 December 2026.
Temporary Shortage List: the certificate of sponsorship must be issued before 31 December 2026; dependants cannot join you on this list unless you were already in a medium skilled job before 22 July 2025.
Threshold in each situation
| Standard rate | £41,700 |
| New entrant (under 26, recent student or graduate, in training) | £33,400 |
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
Data analysts are coded 3544 in the Standard Occupational Classification, and since 22 July 2025 that code sits in Table 1a of Appendix Skilled Occupations, the "medium skilled" list. A medium skilled job is open to new Skilled Worker applicants only while it is on a shortage list, and 3544 is on the Temporary Shortage List of Appendix Skilled Worker, for certificates of sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026. The salary test is the usual one: the higher of £41,700 and the going rate of £34,900, so £41,700 for a full-time post, or £33,400 for a new entrant such as a recent graduate. Two limits come with the list: new applicants in a medium skilled job cannot bring a partner or children, and after the deadline the code closes to newcomers unless the list is extended. Many roles called "data" sit in other codes, some of them higher skilled and permanently open, which is why the code chosen by the employer decides the case.
Data roles, code by code
| Code | Table | New applicants | Going rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3544 Data analysts | Table 1a | until 31 December 2026 | £34,900 |
| 3133 Database administrators and web content technicians | Table 1a | until 31 December 2026 | £34,600 |
| 2133 IT business analysts, architects and systems designers | Table 1 | open | £54,900 |
| 2433 Actuaries, economists and statisticians | Table 1 | open | £55,100 |
| 2134 Programmers and software development professionals | Table 1 | open | £54,700 |
| 4152 Data entry administrators | Table 6 | not eligible | – |
The examples printed under each code show where the line falls. Data architects and data engineers are listed under 2133, IT business analysts, architects and systems designers; "statistical data scientists" under 2433 with actuaries and economists. Both are degree-level codes in Table 1, open without a deadline but with going rates of £54,900 and £55,100. Data entry clerks (4152) are in Table 6 and cannot be sponsored at all. An employer may not pick 3544 to avoid a higher rate if the job is really a data engineer's: SW 6.2 lets the caseworker refuse a less appropriate code.
What the Temporary Shortage List changes, and what it does not
The list makes the code eligible; it does not lower the salary. A data analyst therefore needs the general threshold of £41,700, which here is above the going rate, unless one of the usual discounts applies. A graduate switching from a Student or Graduate visa, or anyone under 26, can be paid the new entrant rate of £33,400 for up to 4 years in total. The PhD discounts do not apply: 3544 is not eligible for PhD points.
The deadline concerns the certificate, not the visa. A certificate assigned on or before 31 December 2026 can still be used for an application within its three months of validity, and a worker granted a visa keeps it for its whole length. What is uncertain is the extension: a medium skilled worker already in the job before 22 July 2025 keeps access to it under the transitional rules, but someone recruited through the list after that date should not assume the code will still be open when the visa ends.
The family question
GOV.UK states that a partner or child outside the UK can join a worker in a medium skilled job only if the worker has been in such a job on a Skilled Worker visa since before 22 July 2025, or if the child was born in the UK. For a data analyst recruited from abroad now, that rules out bringing a family on the same route. A partner with their own visa (a Skilled Worker job of their own, or Global Talent) is a different matter; the dependants page sets out the rules and the Temporary Shortage List page lists every code on it.