The Temporary Shortage List ends on 31 December 2026: what sponsors with RQF 3 to 5 roles must do

What the Temporary Shortage List is

The main tables of occupations are at RQF level 6 or above. The RQF 3 to 5 codes sit in Tables 1a and 2aa, whose headings refer to permission granted “under the rules in place before 22 July 2025”:

These SOC 2020 occupation codes are considered to be skilled to Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 6 or above, and are eligible for the Skilled Worker route.

For a new RQF 3 to 5 hire the Rules offer two lists. The MAC puts it this way: “Unless placed on the TSL (or the updated ISL which remains until 31 December 2026), RQF 3-5 occupations will no longer have access to the immigration system.” SW 6.1 lists the places a code can be listed, including “(b) the Immigration Salary List in Appendix Immigration Salary List; or (c) the Temporary Shortage List in SW 6.1A”. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) describes the Temporary Shortage List this way:

The interim TSL contains occupations at RQF 3-5 which the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) have identified as being important to the UK’s Industrial Strategy. Placement on the interim TSL serves to provide extended but time-limited access to the immigration system for those RQF 3-5 occupations.

The list is in SW 6.1A itself, not in a separate appendix. It has 52 SOC 2020 codes. Four of them (3429, 3549, 4129 and 5319) are limited to named job types, so a code match is not always enough; the job title and duties have to match too.

Except where option D or the Temporary Shortage List in SW 6.1A applies, sponsors may ONLYsponsor Skilled Worker applicants in these SOC2020 occupation codes if the applicant was granted permission as a Skilled Worker under the rules in place before 22 July 2025, and they have had continuous permission as a Skilled Worker since then.

The 52 codes

This is the list as it stands in SW 6.1A on the page updated 3 August 2026. Where a code carries a job-type limit, the limit is shown in brackets.

The deadline, and what “issued before 31 December 2026” means

SW 6.1A. A SOC 2020 occupation code (or, where relevant, an eligible job within a SOC 2020 occupation code) is only included on the Temporary Shortage List where: (a) it appears in the list below; and (b) an application has been made using a certificate of sponsorship issued by a sponsor to an applicant before 31 December 2026.

The Immigration Salary List uses the same formula, with a date for each code:

An occupation is only included on the list where an application has been made using a certificate of sponsorship issued by a sponsor to an applicant before the removal date stated in the table.

Three points follow from the words themselves.

• The test is the issue date of the certificate. The paragraph speaks of a certificate “issued … to an applicant before” the date. It does not mention the start date, the date of assignment in the SMS, or the date the visa is granted. The sponsor’s record of the issue date is the evidence.
• “Before 31 December 2026” is read literally. A certificate issued on 31 December 2026 is not issued before that date. Do not plan for the last day.
• The application date is a separate rule. SW 1.2(d) requires a certificate “issued to them by their sponsor no more than 3 months (or 90 days, where the Certificate of Sponsorship is linked to a Sponsorship Reference Number …) before the date of application”. How SW 6.1A and SW 1.2(d) combine for a certificate issued in late December is a point for the solicitor on the file.

SW 6.1A does not mention extensions. A worker already on the route with permission granted before 22 July 2025 is separately covered by SW 6.1(d) and the Table 1a note above.

Salary under the Temporary Shortage List and Immigration Salary List options

The salary options are in the table following SW 4.4. For a Temporary Shortage List job, the wording points to the Table 1a note and to option A.

The applicant is being sponsored for a job on the Immigration Salary List and their salary equals or exceeds both: • £33,400 per year; and • the going rate for the SOC 2020 occupation code

The applicant is being sponsored for a job on the Immigration Salary List and their salary equals or exceeds both: • £25,000 per year; and • the going rate for the SOC 2020 occupation code.

Options F to J carry lower floors but, under SW 4.2(b), apply only to a Health and Care ASHE salary job or to people granted permission before 4 April 2024 with continuous permission since. They are not a route for a new Temporary Shortage List hire. A worked example of the going-rate arithmetic is in the Certificate of Sponsorship checks post.

For a Temporary Shortage List job that is not also on the Immigration Salary List, the text we found gives option A (or B, C or E where their own conditions are met), not option D. Whether an adviser reads the table differently for a particular code is for them. We do not have a source that says the Temporary Shortage List has a lower salary floor.

Dependants

For a partner:

SW 29.1A. In SW 29.1(a) and (b), P must have (or be applying for) entry clearance or permission as a Skilled Worker sponsored for a job in Table 1, Table 2 or Table 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, unless P: (a) was (or is being) granted entry clearance or permission as a Skilled Worker, sponsored in: …

For a child, SW 32A.2 has the same shape: “P must be a Skilled Worker sponsored for a job in Table 1, Table 2 or Table 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, unless:” followed by the same exceptions, plus a child born in the UK and two cases of sole or joint responsibility on permission-to-stay applications. The exceptions turn on a grant “under the Rules in force before 22 July 2025” with continuous permission since. Neither paragraph names SW 6.1A or the Immigration Salary List. The MAC summarises the effect:

Under most work routes, workers can bring their partner or children with them to the UK, but the July 2025 Immigration Rules changes confirmed that dependants would not be allowed for new applicants in RQF 3-5 occupations. This applies to roles currently on the ISL and Interim TSL.

The line that matters is the table, not the list. A code on the Immigration Salary List that also sits in Table 1 (2142 Graphic and multimedia designers, for example) is tested against Table 1, so check which table the role is sponsored under. The MAC passage is a summary by the Committee; the Rules paragraphs above are the source.

What the MAC recommended for 2027

The Home Secretary asked the MAC to review the RQF 3 to 5 occupations in two stages. Stage 1 (October 2025, PDF revised 17 March 2026) said what it expected of the timetable:

An expiry date of 31 December 2026 has been set for occupations on both the ISL and interim TSL. … We expect our recommendations to be considered and acted upon before the 31 December 2026 expiry date.

Stage 2 was published on 23 July 2026. The letter to the Home Secretary of that date reports:

Of the 46 occupations with Jobs Plans, we recommend that 28 occupations should receive 18-month access to the TSL.

If our recommendations are accepted by the Home Office, we would expect the group of 28 occupations to receive access from January 2027 to the end of June 2028.

Reading the report carefully: it starts from 82 occupations that came out of Stage 1, 46 of them with Jobs Plans. The 28 recommended codes are a smaller group than the 52 in SW 6.1A, and the letter recommends that 18 occupations with Jobs Plans should not receive access. Your code may be on the current list and not on the recommended one, or the reverse (the report lists, for example, 5211 Sheet metal workers and 5221 Metal machining setters, neither of which is in SW 6.1A). The report’s Table 3.2 is the list to read.

These are recommendations. A change would have to be made in the Immigration Rules, and we have not found one that replaces SW 6.1A(b). Until it is, the Rules read “before 31 December 2026”.

What a sponsor should do now

1. List every sponsored and planned role at RQF 3 to 5. For each, record the SOC 2020 code and test it against SW 6.1(a), the Immigration Salary List and the 52-code list, as in the diagram.
2. Check for job-type limits. Codes 3429, 3549, 4129 and 5319 on the Temporary Shortage List, and several rows of the Immigration Salary List, apply only to named jobs.
3. Find the date. For each Certificate of Sponsorship you intend to issue, work back from 31 December 2026, and from SW 1.2(d) and the 3-month rule, to the date by which it must be issued and used.
4. Re-run the salary. Option A gives the higher of £41,700 and the going rate; option D applies only on the Immigration Salary List. Pro-rate the going rate for hours (SW 14.4(a)).
5. Note the dependants position. For a new applicant in a Table 1a code, SW 29.1A and SW 32A.2 as written do not name the Temporary Shortage List or the Immigration Salary List.
6. Keep the file. Record the code, the list it is on, the date of issue and the salary arithmetic, with the quotes. The Appendix D records are in the Appendix D post.
7. Watch for a change to the Rules. A Statement of Changes would be the place SW 6.1A is amended. Check the Appendix Skilled Worker page and the date on it.

How SponsorFlow runs the occupation and salary checks

The Certificate of Sponsorship checker reads the role from the job description, keeps the quote, and runs the occupation code against the published Appendix Skilled Occupations data and the salary arithmetic as written rules, printing the paragraph and the figures for each finding. Where a code is not in the tables it holds, it says so and passes the Table 3, Immigration Salary List and Temporary Shortage List question to the solicitor as a judgment; it does not decide which list a role is sponsored under or whether the occupation code chosen is the appropriate one. Treat the 52-code list above as a manual cross-check. See the Certificate of Sponsorship checks for the whole sequence.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Immigration Rules, Appendix Skilled Worker (SW 4.4, SW 6.1, SW 6.1A, SW 29.1A, SW 32A.2)GOV.UK, page updated 3 August 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
• Immigration Rules, Appendix Skilled Occupations (notes to Tables 1, 1a and 2aa)GOV.UK, page updated 11 November 2025 (re-published 3 August 2026); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
• Immigration Rules, Appendix Immigration Salary ListGOV.UK, page updated 11 November 2025 (re-published 3 August 2026); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
• Migration Advisory Committee, Temporary Shortage List: Stage 1 reportPDF revised 17 March 2026 (publication page updated 25 March 2026); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
• Migration Advisory Committee, Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report and letter to the Home SecretaryPublished 23 July 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK

SponsorFlow provides compliance software and record-keeping tools. It is not a law firm or an immigration adviser and does not give legal or immigration advice, which are regulated activities (Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, section 84). This page describes what the published Home Office guidance and the Immigration Rules say, with the paragraph for each point, so you can read the source yourself. Guidance versions and figures are those in force on the date shown; the Home Office changes them, so check the current version before you rely on any of it.