UK list of shortage occupations in health and education for Skilled Worker Visa

Having previously gone over the subject of “Shortage Occupations” for the UK Skilled Worker visa, today’s blog will examine the Shortage Occupation list for healthcare and education. If you are applying for a UK Skilled Worker visa for a job in the education or healthcare industry, your specific employment position might qualify as a Shortage Occupation. If you find your education/health job on the Shortage Occupation list, congratulations! Your Skilled Worker visa application fee will cost significantly less than it otherwise would. Read on to access the Shortage Occupation list for jobs in education and healthcare, and for more information about UK Skilled Worker visas. 

Skilled Worker Shortage Occupation List

• The below shortage occupation list is exclusively eligible for healthcare and education jobs. For an overview of the general Skilled Worker Shortage Occupation List , click here.
• Applicants can look up more information about one of the below occupations by entering its respective occupation code via the ONS Occupation Coding Tool, accessible via this link. 
• Unless otherwise stated, the listed shortage in a particular occupation applies to England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland; all of the countries in the UK. 
• The following shortage occupations are listed alphabetically below: 
  • Medical practitioners (all positions)  
    • Occupation code: 2211
  • Medical radiographers (all positions) 
    • Occupation code: 2217
  • Nurses (all positions)
    • Occupation code: 2231
  • Paramedics (all positions) 
    • Occupation code: 3213
  • Psychologists (all positions) 
    • Occupation code: 2212
  • Social workers (all positions)
    • Occupation code: 2442
  • Teachers (exclusively secondary school teachers of Mandarin, computer science, physics, and math). 
    • Occupation code: 2314
  • Teachers (exclusively Gaelic teachers at the primary and nursery school levels). 
    • Exclusively in Scotland 
    • Occupation code: 2315
  • Teachers (exclusively Gaelic teachers at the secondary school level). 
    • Exclusively in Scotland 
    • Occupation code: 2315
  • Therapists (Language and speech) (all positions) 
    • Occupation code: 2223
  • Therapists (Occupational) (all positions) 
    • Occupation code: 2222

Overview:

• If you have received an offer of employment in the UK in the healthcare or education industry, you will very likely be eligible to apply for a Skilled Worker visa for one of those categories. For the complete education and healthcare occupations list for UK Skilled Worker visas, click here. 
• In order to be eligible for a Skilled Worker visa for a job in UK healthcare or education, applicants must be offered a salary that is equal to the country’s “national pay scale rate” for that specific position in the UK. The national pay scale rate is different for healthcare workers and education workers. (To access the national pay scales for healthcare workers, click here; for education national pay scales, click here). 
• In addition, some of the above healthcare and education jobs are classified as “Shortage Occupations.” If you are applying for a Skilled Worker visa for a healthcare or education job that is defined as a Shortage Occupation, you will be subject to reduced application fees. This is in contrast to applicants who are applying for a Skilled Worker visa for jobs on the general education and healthcare occupations list (i.e. non shortage education health and care worker visa list), and for those applying for Skilled worker visas for jobs outside of the health/education sectors, who must pay the full application fee. 
• If you are applying for a Skilled Worker visa for a non-health/education job that is defined as a Shortage Occupation, you will be exempt from the minimum salary requirements that apply generally to Skilled Worker visa applicants (usually, immigrants applying for non-health/education jobs must meet the minimum salary requirements for the job they apply for (or at least be paid the occupation’s average salary rate). 

Reduced Application Fees for Health/Education

• If you are applying for a health and care worker visa or education visa (i.e. a UK Skilled Worker visa), and your job is defined as a Shortage Occupation, your application fees will be lower. 
• In general, the price for a Skilled Worker visa increases the longer you intend to stay in the country. For example, if you are residing in the UK for a period that is longer than three years, you will pay more than if you were staying three years or fewer. 
• The Skilled Worker visa application fees for those applying for health/education jobs defined as Shortage Occupations are as follows:
  • £464—For applicants applying for visas for a period of 3 or fewer years 
  • £928—For applicants applying for visas for a period of 3 or fewer years 
• You can compare the above reduced rates to the standard application fees for skilled workers applying for jobs outside the Shortage Occupation list:           
  • £610—For applicants applying for visas for a period of 3 or fewer years 
  • £1220—For applicants applying for visas for a period of 3 or more years 
• Please note that in addition to the above application fees, applicants for all UK Skilled Worker visas (regardless of whether or not they are on a Shortage Occupation list) are subject to a healthcare surcharge. In addition, they must also demonstrate proof of subsistence (i.e. that they have enough money to financially support themselves throughout their stay in the country). 

Skilled Worker Visa Points System: Overview

• Under the new Skilled Worker visa points system, immigrants must obtain a certain number of points order to be eligible for a UK worker visa.
• Applicants gain points by meeting skill, salary, and language requirements for the employment offer they have received in the UK. 
• As noted above, if your intended job is defined by the UK government as a “Shortage Occupation,” you will be subject to lower salary requirements. Essentially, because there currently aren’t enough people in the country doing the job you seek to do, the government wants to make it easier for you to receive a UK worker visa to do that job. (As noted above, if you receive an employment offer for an education/health job that is on the Shortage Occupation list, you are still subject to the “national pay scale” requirement for jobs in that sector, however you will be subject to lower application fees).  
• Applicants for UK skilled immigration visas must receive a total of 70 points in order to qualify. 
• Points are gained by possessing certain skills and qualifications, which are each worth a certain number of points. 
• Points are classified as either mandatory or tradeable; mandatory points can only be earned by meeting specific requirements—they are mandatory in that they must be earned through the possession/fulfillment of a specific skill/qualification. In contrast, tradeable points are those that can be accumulated through a number of different pathways. 
• For example, the English language fluency requirement is worth 10 points. These points are mandatory, meaning that you must fulfill the English language requirement in order to be eligible for UK immigration. Even though the English requirement is only worth 10 points, you must earn those 10 points via that category. Therefore, even if you otherwise exceed the minimum point requirements by fulfilling other requirements, unless you are fluent in English, you will not be eligible for UK skilled immigration.