UK Immigration Salary List 2026: Every Eligible Role + Discount Rate

The UK Immigration Salary List (ISL) lets sponsored workers in shortage roles qualify for a Skilled Worker visa at a reduced salary threshold — typically the higher of £30,960 or 70% of the role's standard going rate. It is the direct successor to the old Shortage Occupation List (SOL) and continues to operate in 2026, even as the wider Skilled Worker thresholds rise. If your Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code appears on the ISL, you can be sponsored below the headline £41,700 general threshold and pay a lower visa fee (£628 for visas up to three years, £1,235 for longer stays).

What is the UK Immigration Salary List?

The UK Immigration Salary List is a Home Office register of occupations the government has formally accepted are in short supply in the UK labour market. Skilled Worker visa applicants sponsored into one of these roles benefit from two concrete discounts: a lower salary threshold and lower visa application fees. The ISL was introduced in April 2024 as the slimmed-down replacement for the long-running Shortage Occupation List (SOL), and in 2026 it remains the only general mechanism for paying a Skilled Worker below the standard going rate.

Three things define an ISL-eligible application in 2026:

• SOC code: Your job must map to a SOC 2020 occupation code that appears on the published ISL.
• Salary floor: You must be paid at least £30,960 per year and at least 70% of the role's standard going rate, whichever is higher.
• Sponsor licence: The employer must hold a valid Worker sponsor licence and issue a Certificate of Sponsorship referencing the ISL discount.

Source: gov.uk Skilled Worker visa pages, updated 2026. The ISL does not grant any right to work outside the sponsored role — it is purely a salary-threshold concession for sponsored employment.

Which roles are on the ISL in 2026?

The 2026 ISL is deliberately narrower than the old SOL. It covers occupations the Migration Advisory Committee judged genuinely scarce and where temporary migration is a sensible response. The table below groups the published roles by sector with their SOC 2020 codes and the reduced salary floor that applies after the 70% going-rate discount and the absolute £30,960 minimum are layered together. Always confirm the live entry on gov.uk before relying on a figure — the Home Office can amend the list mid-cycle.

Note that for some roles, the going rate is high enough that 70% of it still exceeds the £30,960 floor — in those cases the going-rate figure controls. For lower-paid occupations, the £30,960 floor controls. Source: gov.uk Skilled Worker visa pages and the Migration Advisory Committee's 2025/26 review.

For role-by-role detail beyond the ISL itself, see our companion guides on the UK Skilled Worker visa salary threshold by role 2026 and RQF Level 6 Skilled Worker visa eligible jobs 2026.

Is mechanical engineering on the ISL?

Yes — mechanical engineering is on the UK Immigration Salary List in 2026. It sits under SOC 2020 code 2122 (Mechanical engineers), and a sponsored mechanical engineer can be paid as little as £30,960 per year (or 70% of the role's going rate, if higher) and still meet the Skilled Worker salary requirement.

That means a UK employer sponsoring a mechanical engineer from overseas in 2026 does not have to meet the headline general threshold of £41,700 — provided the Certificate of Sponsorship clearly references the ISL discount and the SOC code. Source: gov.uk Skilled Worker visa pages, 2026 update.

The same logic applies to closely related engineering disciplines — civil (SOC 2121), electrical (SOC 2123), electronics (SOC 2124), design and development (SOC 2126) and production and process (SOC 2127) engineers all currently appear on the ISL with the same £30,960 floor. If your offer letter labels the role as one of these, ask the sponsor's HR or compliance team to confirm in writing that they are using the ISL route.

What's the salary discount on ISL roles?

The ISL does not just lower one number — it changes the formula. For a standard Skilled Worker application in 2026, you have to be paid the higher of:

• The general threshold (£41,700, or £45,000 for some new entrants from April 2026), and
• 100% of the role's going rate (the published median salary for the SOC code, pro-rated to 37.5 hours).

If your role is on the ISL, both legs are softened. You only have to meet:

• The ISL minimum of £30,960, and
• 70% of the going rate (instead of 100%).

So the binding constraint is whichever of those two is higher for your specific role. A laboratory technician with a going rate around £28,000 ends up bound by the £30,960 floor. A mechanical engineer with a going rate near £45,000 ends up bound by 70% of the going rate, which is roughly £31,500 — still well below the £41,700 general threshold.

The fee saving is just as material. ISL applicants pay £628 for visas up to three years and £1,235 for longer visas, compared with the standard £819 and £1,618 outside the UK in 2026. Source: gov.uk Skilled Worker visa pages. For a deeper cost breakdown including the Immigration Skills Charge, see our UK visa sponsorship costs 2026 guide, and for the going-rate mechanic in full, our UK Skilled Worker going rate 2026 explainer.

How is the ISL different from the old Shortage Occupation List?

The ISL replaced the Shortage Occupation List on 4 April 2024 as part of the Spring 2024 Statement of Changes. By 2026 the differences are entrenched, and they matter both for sponsors and for applicants who remember the older regime.

Three structural changes carry over into 2026:

• Smaller list. The SOL covered dozens of occupations across construction, hospitality, IT and care. The ISL is far tighter — care workers and most general construction trades are not on it, although care workers have a separate Health and Care visa route covered in our UK Health and Care Worker visa 2026 guide.
• Smaller discount. The SOL allowed an 80% going-rate discount. The ISL allows only 70%, and the general salary floor it discounts from has itself risen.
• Absolute floor. The SOL had a single going-rate calculation. The ISL adds an explicit absolute minimum (£30,960 in 2026) that no ISL applicant can be paid below, regardless of how low the going rate falls.

The practical effect: routes that were viable in 2023 (sponsoring a chef on the SOL near £26,000, for example) are not viable on the ISL. The ISL is narrower, costlier and aimed at higher-skilled scarcity rather than broad sectoral shortage. Source: Home Office Statement of Changes HC 590, 2024, and the Migration Advisory Committee's accompanying reviews.

How are roles added to or removed from the ISL?

Roles move on and off the ISL through reviews by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Home Secretary's independent body for migration policy. The MAC takes evidence from sponsors, industry bodies, unions and the public, considers labour market data, and publishes a recommendation. The Home Office then accepts, modifies or rejects each recommendation in a Statement of Changes laid before Parliament.

The MAC's working test for an ISL role is roughly: the role must be skilled (RQF Level 3 or above under current rules), there must be evidence of a genuine shortage not solved by domestic recruitment within a reasonable horizon, and including the role on the ISL must be sensible — meaning migration is a proportionate response and the salary floor will not undercut resident wages.

For applicants, two consequences flow from this process. First, the ISL is not static — if you are reading this six months after publication, double-check gov.uk against the table above before relying on a SOC code being listed. Second, MAC reviews are slow but signalled: large changes are almost always trailed in MAC reports months before they appear in a Statement of Changes, giving sponsors time to react.

For the wider salary threshold context including non-ISL roles, see our hub guide on UK visa sponsorship salary thresholds 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Does the ISL discount apply to dependants?

No — the ISL only affects the main applicant's salary threshold and visa fee. Dependant fees, the Immigration Health Surcharge and the dependant maintenance requirements are unchanged. The discount is structural to the Skilled Worker route, not a household-level benefit.

If my role is on the ISL, do I still need a sponsor licence?

Yes. The ISL is a salary-threshold concession within the Skilled Worker route, not a separate visa. Your employer still needs a valid Worker sponsor licence and must issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for your specific SOC code. The ISL just changes the salary maths on that CoS.

Can the ISL discount be combined with the new entrant discount?

You cannot stack discounts cumulatively, but you can usually pick whichever rule gives the lower threshold. In practice for 2026, the £30,960 ISL floor is usually lower than the new entrant going-rate calculation, so ISL is the binding rule. Always check both on the day of application.

Is my SOC code on the ISL if it isn't listed in your table?

Almost certainly not. The ISL is published as an exhaustive list — if a SOC code doesn't appear on the official gov.uk ISL annex, it isn't on the list. That doesn't mean you can't be sponsored; it just means you have to meet the standard Skilled Worker thresholds, not the ISL-reduced ones. Our salary threshold by role guide covers non-ISL pathways.

Does the ISL give a route to settlement?

Indirectly. ISL holders are on the standard Skilled Worker route, which itself leads to Indefinite Leave to Remain after five continuous years of qualifying residence, subject to the salary and absence rules in force at the time of application. The ISL doesn't shorten that clock.

What happens if my role is removed from the ISL after my visa is granted?

You are protected for the duration of the visa already granted — the Home Office has consistently treated mid-visa removal as a future-application issue, not a retrospective one. The risk lands on your next extension or change-of-employment application, which would have to meet whatever rules apply at that point.

Are care workers on the ISL in 2026?

No. Care workers and senior care workers are not on the ISL in 2026. They are instead routed through the dedicated Health and Care Worker visa, which has its own salary rules and recent restrictions on dependants — explained in our UK Health and Care Worker visa 2026 guide.

Next steps

If your role appears on the table above, ask your prospective sponsor to confirm in writing that the Certificate of Sponsorship will reference the ISL discount and the relevant SOC code. If your role doesn't appear, work through our salary thresholds hub to check which standard threshold — general, new entrant, PhD-discount, or Health and Care — gives you the best path. The Immigration Salary List is one of the few remaining levers that lets UK employers sponsor genuinely scarce talent below the headline thresholds in 2026 — using it correctly turns a borderline offer into a viable one.