The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) presented revisions to the Shortage Occupation List for Tier 2 (skilled workers) to the UK Government. The UK Government accepted MAC’s full recommendation, and made the policy effective on June 15, 2009.
Occupations on the updated list include various types of engineers, medical practitioners, scientists and teachers. View the full list here.
The Shortage Occupation List allows you to skip a step in the immigration process when hiring skilled workers (for a position on the list) by sidestepping the Resident Labor Market Test. Otherwise, the test will be required to show that there are no candidates within the European Economic Area to fill the position.
Currently there is an 11% increase (compared to Q1 2008) of issued UK employment permits, and with the recent revision of the occupation list, the percentage of issued work permits is expected to continue to grow.