UK Immigration Wage Checklist 2025

By Georgina Griggs –
Immigration Barrister

08 Oct 2025

1. Scarcity Occupation Checklist vs Immigration Wage Checklist

The Scarcity Occupation Checklist, the Immigration Wage Checklist’s predecessor, was launched in 2008, beneath the outdated Factors Primarily based System. It contained an inventory of roles that had been in scarcity within the UK labour market, enabling sponsors to rent abroad staff to fulfil these roles by paying staff a reduced wage. Whereas the checklist supplied advantages to employers, there have been disadvantages to being in a scarcity occupation. Employees had been being paid lower than the market fee for his or her roles, leaving them at increased threat of exploitation and monetary insecurity. 

Given the obvious disadvantages of the Scarcity Occupation Checklist, the House Workplace commissioned a major overview of the checklist by the Migration Advisory Committee (“MAC”) which, in flip, beneficial its heavy reform or abolition. 

In December 2023, the House Workplace introduced an enormous enhance to the final wage threshold; from £26,200 to £38,700 every year to be efficient from April 2024, which coincided with the Scarcity Occupation Checklist being changed by the Immigration Wage Checklist (“ISL”). This isn’t to be confused with the Short-term Scarcity Checklist, which was launched this 12 months following the Authorities’s White Paper. 

Whereas the Scarcity Occupation Checklist supplied a reduced wage when it comes to the final wage threshold and the going fee for the function, the ISL solely presents a reduction to the final wage threshold. Additional, the ISL lists far fewer eligible occupations than the Scarcity Occupation Checklist as soon as did, that means its software is restricted. 

Whereas its software could also be restricted, for the reason that adjustments to the eligible ability degree (from RQF Degree 3 to six on 22 July 2025), the actual good thing about the ISL is maybe in defending the eligibility for sponsorship of a few of the decrease ability degree roles that seem on the checklist, which might not in any other case be eligible. 

On this submit we have a look at the Immigration Wage Checklist intimately, offering insights into its goal and advantages, its composition and implications for each employers and potential migrants. The present UK Immigration Wage Checklist 2025 might be discovered on the finish of this submit.

2. The Immigration Wage Checklist Defined

In essence, the ISL is an inventory of occupations that are eligible for sponsorship and the place a decreased basic wage threshold applies to functions on the Expert Employee route. Jobs on the ISL stay eligible for sponsorship and may qualify for the Expert Employee route by being paid lower than the usual basic wage requirement. This makes it simpler for employers to recruit for ISL roles and has opened up alternatives for expert staff to work within the UK in ISL occupations. 

The ISL at present stays in impact, however the White Paper, “Restoring management over the immigration system”, printed in Could 2025, confirms that will probably be abolished (together with the Short-term Scarcity Checklist, to make sure that worldwide recruitment is “by no means an affordable various” to the settled workforce. 

3. Authorities Place on the Immigration Wage Checklist

The Expert Employee Immigration Wage Checklist was first printed in Immigration Guidelines Appendix Immigration Wage Checklist on 04 April 2024. 

Based on the Explanatory Memorandum to the Assertion of Adjustments within the Immigration Guidelines introduced to Parliament on 14 March 2024 (HC 590), the Immigration Wage Checklist reveals an inventory of occupations the place: “the Authorities considers it wise to supply a reduced wage threshold, quite than being an inventory of all occupations experiencing labour shortages.” This contrasts with the predecessor Scarcity Occupation Checklist, which was expressly said to be an inventory of expert occupations the place there was a scarcity of labour within the UK.  

As set out within the White Paper, referenced above, the Authorities now not considers it applicable to supply a reduced wage threshold to migrant staff in any respect, which is why it would abolish the ISL in the end. It has requested the Migration Advisory Committee (“MAC”) to undertake an intensive overview of wage thresholds “to make sure that worldwide recruitment is rarely an affordable various to truthful pay and to make sure they replicate the brand new adjustments to our immigration system.” 

4. Immigration Wage Checklist Wage Thresholds Defined

Employers looking for to recruit beneath the Expert Employee route should pay their expert staff a wage which equals or exceeds each a basic wage threshold and the occupation-specific threshold or ‘going fee’ for the relevant SOC 2020 occupation code.

The Immigration Wage Checklist is an inventory of occupations the place a decreased basic wage threshold applies to functions on the Expert Employee route. In easy phrases, if a job is on the Immigration Wage Checklist, the final wage threshold is 80% of the Expert Employee route’s traditional minimal fee.

The Expert Employee Immigration Wage Checklist might be present in Immigration Guidelines Appendix Immigration Wage Checklist. 

Occupations which can be eligible for a Expert Employee visa and which can be on the Immigration Wage Checklist don’t have to fulfill the total basic wage requirement of £41,700. As a substitute, Expert Employee eligible occupations on the Immigration Wage Checklist have a reduced basic wage threshold of £33,400 every year, which is a major low cost.

In the meantime, occupations which can be eligible for a Well being and Care Employee visa (apart from pay scale occupations) and which can be on the Immigration Wage Checklist have a minimal basic wage threshold of £25,000.

While occupations on the Immigration Wage Checklist have a 20% low cost to the final wage threshold, you will need to observe that ISL occupations should nonetheless moreover be paid at the very least the occupation-specific threshold (previously referred to as the ‘going fee’) as said in Appendix Expert Occupations and the House Workplace’s Immigration Wage Checklist Steerage. 

There is no such thing as a low cost on the occupation-specific threshold (beforehand a good thing about an occupation being on the Scarcity Occupation Checklist) and salaries can’t be decreased under the extent of the occupation-specific threshold or ‘going-rate’. Which means that, in apply, the precise wage low cost could also be lower than 20%.

For instance, an Archaeologist must be paid a basic wage threshold of £33,400, representing a 20% low cost on the usual wage fee of £41,700.  Nevertheless, the occupation-specific threshold or ‘going-rate’ for an Archaeologist is £40,400, primarily based on a 37.5-hour working week.  Due to this fact, in apply, an Archaeologist recruited through the Expert Employee Visa route must be paid a minimal wage of £40,400, which represents a reduction of lower than 4%.

Due to this fact, to summarise:

• Expert Employee route: For occupations on the Immigration Wage Checklist, candidates should be paid a basic wage threshold of £33,400 (quite than £41,700) or the occupation-specific threshold / going fee, which is increased;
• Well being and Care Employee visa: For occupations on the Immigration Wage Checklist, candidates should be paid a basic wage threshold of £25,000 or the occupation-specific threshold / going fee, which is increased.

5. Advantages of the Immigration Wage Checklist

The primary good thing about an occupation being included on the Immigration Wage Checklist is that it permits employers to sponsor migrants in some roles which might not in any other case be eligible for sponsorship, given the rise in ability degree for eligible roles. 

Additional, it permits employers to recruit migrants on a wage under the final wage threshold – with the low cost being a most of 20%.

Roles on the Immigration Wage Checklist do even have a slightly decreased visa software charge for a Expert Employee Visa (£179 low cost for CoS assigned for lower than three years, £369 low cost for CoS assigned for greater than three years). Nevertheless, because the MAC has highlighted, the visa charge discount is a negligible profit, significantly when seen within the context of the elevated Expert Employee wage thresholds and the will increase to the Immigration Well being Surcharge. 

Roles on the Well being and Care Employee Visa have already got decrease related visa charges and subsequently don’t profit from the Immigration Wage Checklist visa charge discount.

6. Immigration Wage Checklist: Advantages for Employers and Employees

Employers ought to observe that if the job they’re looking for to recruit for is on the Immigration Wage Checklist, this should be confirmed within the Certificates of Sponsorship. 

Employers must also be sure that the place there are extra standards in Appendix Immigration Wage Checklist, these standards are met. A number of occupation codes incorporate particular eligibility standards.  For instance, occupation code ‘3414 – Dancers and choreographers’ is restricted to expert classical ballet dancers or expert up to date dancers who meet the usual required by internationally recognised UK ballet or up to date dance firms. Moreover, the corporate should be endorsed as being internationally recognised by a UK trade physique such because the Arts Councils (of England, Scotland or Wales).

Sure occupations are additionally solely included on region-specific Immigration Wage Lists, quite than the UK extensive Immigration Wage Checklist.  For instance, chemical scientists within the nuclear trade solely qualify for the Immigration Wage Checklist for Scotland. The House Workplace will use the ‘working at’ tackle to find out which nation the job is predicated in. 

Employers must also observe that the annual salaries said within the Immigration Wage Checklist are primarily based on a 37.5-hour working week. They should be pro-rated for different working patterns, primarily based on the weekly working hours said by the employer.

Lastly, it’s value noting that, in contrast to beneath the previous Tier 2 (Normal) route, there is no such thing as a minimal variety of weekly hours for Immigration Wage Checklist occupations within the Expert Employee route, offering the related basic wage threshold requirement is met and the ‘going fee’ wage requirement is met when pro-rated.

When sponsoring a Expert Employee for a selected function, employers have to not solely perceive How you can Apply for a Expert Employee Sponsor Licence, however be sure that the employee is sponsored for a job in an eligible commonplace occupational classification (‘SOC’) code. The SOC codes might be discovered within the printed Immigration Guidelines Appendix Expert Occupations and Appendix Immigration Wage Checklist. 

To have a greater understanding of the fitting SOC code for the job they’re recruiting for, employers can seek for the job within the CASCOT occupation coding instrument or seek advice from the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics web site to take a look on the job descriptions, duties and entry necessities. It needs to be famous that it’s the job description for the sponsored function which determines the suitable occupation code, not the job title. 

You will need to select probably the most applicable occupation code to keep away from any delay or refusal of the employee’s visa software. If the House Workplace has affordable grounds to imagine that the sponsor has not chosen the proper SOC code or the emptiness isn’t real, this will set off the House Workplace to conduct a sponsor compliance go to on an introduced or unannounced foundation and may result in a sponsor licence being suspended. 

8. UK Immigration Wage Checklist 2025

The present UK Immigration Wage Checklist 2025 might be discovered right here and, as on the date of this submit, is ready out under. The checklist reveals whether or not the scarcity of labour is in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Eire.  

Beneath is an inventory of occupations the place 80% of the Expert Employee or Well being and Care Employee basic wage threshold could also be paid:

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs in Fishing

• 1212 Fishing boat masters (Scotland solely)
• 5119 Fishing trades not elsewhere categorized (UK extensive)
• 9119 Deckhands on massive fishing vessels (9 metres and above) the place the job requires the employee to have at the very least 3 years’ full-time expertise in utilizing their expertise (UK extensive)

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs in Care 

• 1232 Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors (UK extensive)

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs in Science / Engineering 

• 2111 Chemical scientists within the nuclear trade (Scotland solely)
• 2112 Organic scientists (UK extensive)
• 2115 Archaeologists (UK extensive)
• 3111 Laboratory technicians – solely jobs requiring 3 or extra years’ associated on-the-job expertise (UK extensive)
• 3212 Pharmaceutical technicians (UK extensive)

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs within the Inventive Sector

• 2142 Graphic and multimedia designers (UK extensive)
• 3411 Artists (UK extensive)
• 3414 Dancers and choreographers – solely expert classical ballet dancers or expert up to date dancers who meet the usual required by internationally recognised UK ballet or up to date dance firms. The corporate should be endorsed as being internationally recognised by a UK trade physique such because the Arts Councils (of England, Scotland or Wales) (UK extensive)
• 3415 Musicians – solely expert orchestral musicians who’re leaders, principals, sub-principals or numbered string positions, and who meet the usual required by internationally recognised UK orchestras. The orchestra should be a full member of the Affiliation of British Orchestras (UK extensive)
• 3416 Arts officers, producers and administrators (UK extensive)

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs in Development

• 5213 Excessive integrity pipe welders, the place the job requires 3 or extra years’ associated on-the-job expertise (UK extensive)
• 5235 Boat and ship builders and repairers (Scotland solely)
• 5312 Stonemasons and associated trades (UK extensive)
• 5313 Bricklayers (UK extensive)
• 5314 Roofers, roof tilers and slaters (UK extensive)
• 5316 Carpenters and joiners (UK extensive)
• 5319 Retrofitters (UK extensive)

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs in Well being and Care

Immigration Wage Checklist Jobs in Different Trades

• 6129 Racing grooms, stallion handlers, stud grooms, stud fingers, stud handlers and work riders (UK extensive)

To sponsor a employee for a job on the Immigration Wage Checklist or Appendix Expert Occupations, the employer might want to have a sponsor licence for the related route. Additional particulars on the related sponsor licences might be discovered right here:

For professional recommendation and help in relation to a Sponsor Licence software or Expert Employee visa software, together with functions for roles on the UK Immigration Wage Checklist, contact our immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or through the enquiry type under.