The Migration Advisory Committee published its Stage 2 report on 23 July 2026, recommending 28 of 82 mid-level occupations for the Temporary Shortage List, relevant to sponsors and workers in those roles.
Report item: no rule has changed. The recommendations are advice to the Home Secretary.
On 23 July 2026 the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published the second stage of its review of the Temporary Shortage List (TSL). The TSL is intended to give time-limited immigration access to selected occupations at Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) Levels 3 to 5. It replaces the Immigration Salary List.
The report assesses the 82 occupations identified in Stage 1 as potentially crucial to the Industrial Strategy or critical infrastructure. Under the current framework, the MAC recommends that 28 occupations receive 18-month access to the TSL. It recommends that none receive full access through to the next review, which it expects in three years' time.
The MAC applied four tests: whether an occupation is in shortage or likely to be, whether the sectors that rely on it have credible plans to use the domestic workforce, whether risks of abuse or exploitation are managed, and whether TSL access is appropriate. The plans, called Jobs Plans, were supplied by government sector leads. The MAC says it gave many occupations the benefit of the doubt in this first review, and that it would expect to recommend fewer occupations in future unless the quality of Jobs Plans improves.
The 82 occupations represented around 10,000 visas a year on average from 2022/23 to 2024/25. The 28 recommended occupations represented around 4,000 visas a year. The MAC expects a relatively small reduction in migration if its recommendations are accepted. It says the reduction would come primarily from a small number of occupations where employers were sponsoring more workers, particularly a set of office-based jobs requiring relatively generic skills, such as "Marketing associate professionals" and "Sales accounts and business development managers".
The report notes that visas in TSL occupations lead to settlement at the time of writing. The government has consulted on an "earned settlement" model, and its response is pending. The MAC says that if the TSL remains a route to settlement, the general salary threshold it recommended would need to be revisited. That recommendation, made in its December 2025 Review of Salary Requirements, was a threshold at least as high as the 30th percentile of the UK's full-time annual earnings distribution (£30,900 in 2025), on the assumption that the route does not lead to settlement.
The MAC plans a full review every three years, with a narrower review of updated actions when 18-month access expires.
What this means for applicants
Nothing changes yet. The report contains recommendations, and the source does not say whether or when the government will accept them. Sponsors and workers in the occupations concerned should note that the MAC proposes 18-month access, not three years. The MAC also says it would expect future recommendations to place greater weight on the quality of Jobs Plans and on clear evidence of progress in reducing reliance on migration.
Related guide
Sources
- Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report, Migration Advisory Committee, 23 July 2026