Temporary Shortage List for Skilled Worker jobs

Eligibility only: the salary rule stays the same

A code on the Temporary Shortage List is treated as eligible for the job points, so a sponsor can recruit into it from abroad or sponsor a switch. The salary points are then awarded under the normal options. For most applicants that is option A, the higher of £41,700 and the going rate. Because most of these codes have going rates well below the floor, the floor decides: an electrician (code 5241) has a going rate of £38,800 but a threshold of £41,700, and a planning or production technician (code 3116) the same £41,700. A few codes go higher, such as ship and hovercraft officers (code 3512) at £58,300.

The lower options can still be used where you meet their own conditions. Table 1a prints a 70 % column, so a new entrant electrician needs £33,400 rather than £41,700. What the list does not give an ordinary applicant is the lower floor of the Immigration Salary List, which applies at the full going rate, or that list's reduced fee. A handful of codes sit on both lists (3111, 3414, 5213, 5235 and 5319); for them the Immigration Salary List terms apply where its conditions are met.

The 52 codes and their limits

4 entries cover only named job types inside the code, for example business systems analysts and clinical coders within code 3549, or builders, divers and steel fixers within code 5319. For every other code, all jobs in the code count. The occupation code still has to be the most appropriate one for the duties.

No new dependants, and a hard deadline

Under rules SW 29.1A and SW 32A.2, a partner or child can only be sponsored as a dependant of a Skilled Worker whose job is in Table 1, 2 or 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations. Table 1a jobs reached through this list fall outside that, so a new worker comes alone. The exceptions are narrow: workers already sponsored in a medium skilled job since before 22 July 2025, a child born in the UK, or a child in the UK whose other parent is also sponsored in a medium skilled job or for whom you are the sole surviving parent. The dependants page sets out each case.

The date in SW 6.1A is about the certificate, not the application: the certificate must be issued before 31 December 2026. An application made a few weeks later on such a certificate is still on time, as long as it is made within 3 months of receiving the certificate. As the rules stood on 13 October 2026, nothing replaced the list after that date. A later extension in the same code would need a new certificate, so check the rules in force when the time comes; workers granted before 22 July 2025 keep their transitional access to medium skilled codes regardless. The list is printed in Appendix Skilled Worker; the jobs with a lower floor are on the Immigration Salary List page.