Migration Advisory Committee Publishes Second Review of Shortage Occupation Lists for UK and Scotland

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the United Kingdom ’s independent advisor on migration issues, has published its latest report , making recommendations based on its second partial review of the shortage occupation lists for the United Kingdom and for Scotland. These lists, which are used alongside Tier 2 of the points-based system for managing immigration, comprise skilled occupations where there are shortages that can sensibly be filled by enabling employers to recruit migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

The shortage occupation lists fall under the Tier 2 category of the Points Based System (PBS). It is one of the three main options for foreign nationals outside the EEA to apply for work authorization under the Tier 2 of the PBS.  The other main options require a labor market review or that the foreign national qualifies as an intracompany transferee.

In the most recent review, the MAC assessed all healthcare and engineering occupations, as well as chefs, teachers, town planners, managers in construction, quantity surveyors, ship and hovercraft officers, veterinary surgeons, sheep shearers, work riders, ballet dancers, skilled fish filleters, and meat boners and trimmers.

The most relevant recommendations of the MAC ’s review are as follows:

Recommended Additions to the List

Within the electricity transmission and distribution industries:

• Project managers
• Site managers, station managers, shift/group leaders, and site supervisors 
• Mechanical engineers 
• Design engineers 
• Planning development engineers and quality, health, safety, and environment engineers 
• Project engineers and proposal engineers 
• Electrical engineers, project control engineers, control and instrumentation engineers, and protection engineers

Within the electricity generation industry: 

• Plant process engineers
• Production controllers

Other industries:

• All teaching posts in special schools 
• Licensed and military certifying engineers/inspector technicians and airframe fitters

Recommended for Removal from the List

• Most civil engineers (except for a defined list) 
• Consultants in pediatrics, intensive care medicine, and other defined disciplines 
• Clinical psychologists
• Aircraft component manufacturing engineers 
• Ship and hovercraft officers

Other Recommended Amendments to the List

• Creating a simplified list of relevant job titles under physicist, geologist, and meteorologist occupations
• Introducing a three-year experience requirement for skilled chefs 
• Creating a new skill definition for ballet dancers

The government will announce in the near future whether it accepts the MAC 's recommended amendments to the lists.

The government has also asked the MAC to report on what further changes to the criteria for Tier 1 should be made in 2010/11, given the changing economic circumstances. The MAC will report to the government on this issue soon.

To view the full report, please click here.

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