Mac's New Blueprint For Temporary Shortage Worker Visas

The government's independent immigration advisors have delivered a tough new framework for the Temporary Shortage List (TSL), making it a highly selective, last-resort visa route for a small number of essential jobs.

In a report to the Home Secretary, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has completed the first stage of its review, outlining a rigorous two-stage process designed to drastically reduce the number of occupations eligible for the scheme.

The core message to employers and government is that access to migrant labour will be granted only after they prove a genuine shortage and have a robust plan to fix the underlying problem.

The Temporary Shortage List

The TSL has been explicitly designed to provide time-limited access to the immigration system for medium-skilled (RQF 3-5) occupations where long term shortages have been identified and which have been deemed as crucial to the delivery of the UK's Industrial Strategy or critical infrastructure.