Skilled Worker visa jobs list: which occupations qualify in 2026

Lists of Skilled Worker visa jobs are everywhere, and many still show the rules from before 22 July 2025. On that day the list changed a lot. This page says what GOV.UK says today, with a link to each source, so you can check every line yourself.

The main rule: graduate level jobs

Every job has an occupation code. GOV.UK keeps the full list in Appendix Skilled Occupations. Since 22 July 2025, a new Skilled Worker visa is mainly for jobs in Table 1 of that list, the jobs skilled to RQF level 6 or above. That is degree level. GOV.UK's own visa pages call these higher skilled jobs.

Examples in Table 1 include software developers, doctors, nurses and midwives, engineers, architects, solicitors and university lecturers. The table gives each code its going rate, and the job must pay at least that and the general threshold. For most jobs the general threshold is £41,700 a year.

GOV.UK: Appendix Skilled OccupationsThe salary rules in plain English

Medium skilled jobs: three ways in

Jobs skilled to RQF levels 3 to 5 are in Table 1a. GOV.UK calls them medium skilled. A sponsor can use one of these codes only in three cases:

• The job is on the Temporary Shortage List.
• The job is on the Immigration Salary List.
• You already held a Skilled Worker visa under the rules before 22 July 2025, and you have held one ever since. On GOV.UK's visa page this is the case where you got your first certificate of sponsorship before that date.

GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, your jobGOV.UK: Immigration Salary List

The Temporary Shortage List, until 31 December 2026

The Temporary Shortage List is in rule SW 6.1A of Appendix Skilled Worker. It covers medium skilled jobs only where the sponsor issues the certificate of sponsorship before 31 December 2026. After that date the list ends unless the rules change.

It includes, among others:

• Electricians and electrical fitters (5241), plumbers and heating engineers (5315), welders (5213) and pipe fitters (5214).
• Vehicle technicians and mechanics (5231), painters and decorators (5323), floorers and wall tilers (5322).
• Laboratory technicians (3111), engineering technicians (3113), IT support technicians (3132) and data analysts (3544).
• Bookkeepers and payroll managers (4122), human resources officers (3571) and managers in logistics (1243).

GOV.UK: Appendix Skilled Worker, SW 6.1AGOV.UK: Temporary Shortage List

Chefs, care workers and drivers

Chefs (code 5434) are in Table 1a, the medium skilled jobs, and they are not on the Temporary Shortage List. So a chef job can only be sponsored for someone who already held a Skilled Worker visa granted before 22 July 2025 and has held one since. A chef job offered to someone new from abroad does not meet the rules.

Care workers (6135) and senior care workers (6136) have their own rule. Since 22 July 2025 these jobs cannot bring someone new to the UK, and only some people already here can switch or extend.

HGV and lorry drivers (8211) are not on the Temporary Shortage List either.

Care worker visa rules in fullSupport worker visa rules

Find your occupation code

• If you have a job offer, ask the employer which occupation code the job uses.
• If you do not know it, GOV.UK points to the CASCOT coding tool. Search by job title, then read the duties, because the duties decide the code, not the title.
• Then find the code in Appendix Skilled Occupations and check its table and its going rate.

CASCOT occupation coding tool

Jobs on SponsorJobUK by group

Every job we show is at a company on the Home Office register with a Skilled Worker or Health and Care route, checked that morning. The code a job uses is the employer's to choose, so always check yours before you apply.

All Skilled Worker jobsIT jobsEngineering jobsHealth and care jobsCharity jobs

Before you apply

• Check the employer is on the sponsor register today.
• Never pay anyone for a certificate of sponsorship. Selling one is a crime.
• This page is a plain summary of GOV.UK, not legal advice. For your own case, use GOV.UK or a regulated immigration adviser.

Check a company on the sponsor register