Temporary Shortage List 2027: 28 Jobs & 31 Dec Deadline

The UK Just Cut Its Shortage List From 52 Jobs to 28 — and the Deadline Is 31 December

If your UK job offer is a trade — welder, bricklayer, electrician, plumber — the list that keeps you eligible for sponsorship is about to shrink by nearly half. On 23 July 2026 the Migration Advisory Committee published its final review of the Temporary Shortage List and recommended cutting it from 52 occupations to 28. The current list stops working on 31 December 2026. What replaces it is not law yet.

Here is what that actually means for someone applying from outside the UK, in plain terms.

What the Temporary Shortage List 2027 is, in 50 words

The Temporary Shortage List is the UK’s time-limited exception that lets employers sponsor Skilled Worker visas in medium-skilled jobs below degree level. The current list expires on 31 December 2026. In July 2026 the Migration Advisory Committee recommended a replacement of 28 occupations, expected to run from 1 January 2027 to 30 June 2028.

Why this list exists at all

On 22 July 2025 the UK raised the skill bar for the Skilled Worker visa. The threshold moved from RQF Level 3 — roughly A-Level standard — up to RQF Level 6, which is degree level. That single change knocked out more than a hundred occupations overnight.

Unless a job sits on the Temporary Shortage List or the updated Immigration Salary List, occupations at RQF Levels 3 to 5 no longer have any access to the UK immigration system at all. The TSL was the pressure valve: a short, conditional list for mid-skilled roles judged critical to Britain’s industrial strategy or infrastructure.

It was never meant to last. Both the interim TSL and the expanded Immigration Salary List were set to expire on 31 December 2026 from the day they were created.

The 28 jobs recommended for the 2027 list

Of the 28 occupations recommended, 20 are already on the interim list and eight are new additions. Here they are, grouped so you can find your trade quickly.

Construction and building (12)
Bricklayers · Carpenters and joiners · Plasterers · Roofers, roof tilers and slaters · Plumbers and heating and ventilating installers and repairers · Pipe fitters · Painters and decorators · Floorers and wall tilers · Construction and building trades · Construction and building trades supervisors · Building and civil engineering technicians · CAD, drawing and architectural technicians

Engineering and manufacturing (9)
Welding trades · Engineering technicians · Electrical and electronics technicians · Sheet metal workers · Metal machining setters and setter-operators · Metalworking production and maintenance fitters · Metal plate workers, smiths, moulders and related occupations · Planning, process and production technicians · Chemical and related process operatives

Electrical, telecoms and digital (5)
Electricians and electrical fitters · Electrical and electronic trades · Telecoms and related network installers and repairers · Database administrators and web content technicians · Data analysts

Maritime (2)
Boat and ship builders and repairers · Ship and hovercraft officers

The eight new additions include data analysts, digital infrastructure roles, engineering and manufacturing technician roles, and construction and manufacturing trades.

The 24 occupations recommended for removal

Roles recommended for removal include business sales, human resources, legal, advertising and marketing, and creative occupations such as authors, writers and photographers. Laboratory technicians were also left off the recommended list.

The pattern is not subtle. Office-based and creative mid-skilled roles are out. Hands-on trades and technical roles tied to construction, manufacturing and digital infrastructure are in.

Why only 18 months, not the usual three years

This is the detail most coverage skipped, and it matters if you are planning a five-year move.

The committee said no occupation had made a strong enough case for the normal three-year inclusion period. Instead every recommended occupation would sit on the list from January 2027 only until June 2028, giving sectors time to strengthen their workforce plans before the next review.Occupations were judged against four tests: evidence of a genuine labour shortage, how credible the sector’s plan is for recruiting more domestic workers, how well exploitation risks are managed, and whether more migration is even the right answer. The committee found sectors were often thin on detail about how they would recruit at home.

A Fragomen partner quoted by Personnel Today said the report showed “quite how strongly the MAC have stuck to their brief”.

Translation for applicants: even if your trade makes the 2027 list, treat it as an 18-month window, not a permanent door.

The 31 December 2026 deadline — what it really means

Nothing has been signed into law. The government has not yet confirmed whether it will accept the recommendations, or what transitional arrangements will apply. The MAC’s report deliberately does not deal with transitional arrangements, the position of workers already sponsored, or future extension rights — those decisions sit with the government.

What is fixed is the expiry date. The interim list stops on 31 December 2026. So the practical rule is simple:

• If your occupation is on the current interim list but not on the recommended 28, a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned on or before 31 December 2026 is your route. After that, if the recommendations are adopted, new applicants in that role lose access.
• If your occupation is on the recommended 28, you are in a better position — but the replacement list still needs a formal change to the Immigration Rules before it exists legally.
• If your occupation is on neither, the TSL is not your path. Look at RQF Level 6 roles or a different country.

UK immigration lawyers are already advising employers to bring applications forward so they are submitted before 31 December 2026, and to extend sponsorship durations for mid-skilled roles where possible, in case the role is later removed and extensions become impossible.

If you have an employer talking to you now, that timing advice applies to you too.

What a TSL visa gives you — and what it takes away

This is where a lot of overseas applicants get caught out. Being on the shortage list does not make anything cheaper or easier.

Salary. The job must pay at least the general Skilled Worker threshold of £41,700 a year, or the published rate for that specific occupation, whichever is higher. There is also a minimum hourly rate of £17.13.

No discount. Inclusion on the Temporary Shortage List does not give an employer a salary discount or a reduced visa fee. That reduced general threshold of £33,400 belongs to the Immigration Salary List, which covers RQF Level 6 and above roles — not the TSL.

No family. Workers sponsored in a Temporary Shortage List role on or after 22 July 2025 cannot bring a spouse, partner or children as dependants. Narrow exceptions exist, such as sole parental responsibility for a child already in the UK.

English. Since 8 January 2026, new Skilled Worker applicants must meet B2 English rather than the previous B1 standard.

Read that dependants rule twice before you accept an offer. It is the single most common reason a TSL move goes wrong for a married applicant.

If you are already in the UK on one of these jobs

There is some protection, though it is not unlimited.

The July 2025 reforms allow existing Skilled Worker visa holders to keep renewing their visas, change employer and take supplementary employment in occupations below RQF Level 6. Workers already sponsored in occupations that later lose TSL eligibility are expected to keep that protection under transitional arrangements — but the government has not confirmed an implementation date, and further amendments to the Immigration Rules are needed before any change takes legal effect.

Expected is not the same as guaranteed. If you are on a TSL role now, the realistic play is to build toward an RQF Level 6 job you can switch into

The wider picture: the door is narrowing, not slamming

Provisional Home Office figures for the year ending 30 June 2026 show 30,400 Skilled Worker applications from main applicants — down 39% on the previous year. Dependant applications fell 20%, to 39,500 from 49,100.Those falls follow the July 2025 reforms, a 32% rise in the immigration skills charge from December 2025, the B2 English requirement from January 2026, and a nationality-based “visa brake” applied to certain overseas applications from March 2026.

Against that backdrop, the TSL cut is smaller than the headline suggests. The committee noted that the occupations it recommended account for roughly 4,000 visas a year, so the proposals would produce only a relatively small reduction in migration.

The competition for those 4,000 places is the real story.

What to do in the next 90 days

1. Find your SOC code first. Everything depends on the occupation code your employer assigns, not on your job title or your own qualifications. Check it against the current list on GOV.UK before anything else.
2. Ask your employer one question: is the Certificate of Sponsorship going to be assigned before 31 December 2026? If they cannot answer, that is your answer.
3. Check the salary against the going rate, not the headline. £41,700 is a floor. Many trades have a higher published rate.
4. Plan around the dependants rule. If your family must come with you, a TSL role is not the route. Look at RQF 6+ occupations instead.
5. Verify every offer. No genuine UK employer or agent charges you a fee for a Certificate of Sponsorship. Check the employer against the Home Office register of licensed sponsors on GOV.UK before you pay anyone anything.
6. Watch for the Statement of Changes. The recommendations only become real when the Immigration Rules are amended. That is the announcement to wait for.

Key Takeaways

• The MAC recommended cutting the Temporary Shortage List from 52 occupations to 28 on 23 July 2026.
• The proposed list would run 1 January 2027 to 30 June 2028 — 18 months, not the standard three years.
• The current interim list expires 31 December 2026. A CoS assigned before that date follows the old rules.
• Construction, engineering and technical trades dominate the 28. Office, legal, HR and creative roles are recommended for removal.
• TSL sponsorship still requires £41,700 or the going rate, offers no fee discount, and does not allow dependants.
• The government has not accepted the recommendations yet, and transitional arrangements remain unconfirmed.

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