Government advisers identify dancers, writers and musicians as key to driving economic growth
Dancers, writers, photographers and musicians will have priority access to UK work visas after being identified by the government’s immigration advisers as essential to supporting economic growth.
The professions are among 82 roles recommended for exemption from the forthcoming ban on visas for occupations below degree-level skill.
The list, compiled by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), includes sectors suffering temporary worker shortages that are also deemed vital to the government’s industrial strategy and critical infrastructure plans.
Other roles expected to benefit include air conditioning and refrigeration engineers, health and safety officers, and human resources professionals.
Under the new framework, employers will be permitted to hire foreign workers only for roles requiring degree-level qualifications or higher. Sectors facing mid-skill shortages will be granted temporary access to overseas labour if they can demonstrate robust plans to train and recruit UK-based staff.
Labour’s approach aims to reduce reliance on overseas recruitment in favour of developing domestic skills, though tensions have reportedly emerged between the Home Office and the Treasury, the latter eager to stimulate economic growth through flexible immigration policy.
The MAC is yet to publish its final recommendations, which, if approved, will grant time-limited access to the UK immigration system for these professions.
Part of wider immigration reforms
The initiative was first outlined in the government’s immigration white paper in May as part of a broader plan to reduce net migration, which peaked at 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The temporary shortage list is intended to be narrow and selective, targeting roles that contribute directly to the eight “growth-driving” sectors of the UK’s industrial strategy — including defence, life sciences, creative industries and infrastructure development.
Each role will be subject to detailed review before the final list is presented in July next year.
Professor Brian Bell, chair of the MAC, said:
“The government’s vision for the new temporary shortage list is to provide time-limited access to the immigration system for mid-skilled occupations where long-term shortages have been identified and deemed as crucial to the delivery of the UK’s industrial strategy or critical infrastructure.”
Limits and settlement restrictions
Jobs on the temporary shortage list will remain eligible for up to three years. Foreign workers entering the UK under this route will not be able to count their visa time towards the ten-year residency required for permanent settlement.
To qualify for indefinite leave to remain, they must later transition to a higher-skilled visa category.
The qualifying period for settlement has been doubled from five to ten years, although earlier eligibility may apply for those who make a significant contribution to the economy or their local communities through volunteering.
Individuals who commit crimes, claim benefits or are not in employment may face delays to settlement or be barred entirely.
Migrant returns agreement with France
Separately, two charter flights have deported 19 migrants to France in the past week, including one on Thursday.
Under the reciprocal “one-in, one-out” deal, 15 individuals have also been transferred from France to the UK, bringing the total number exchanged under the agreement to 26.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said:
“We must put an end to these dangerous crossings which put lives at risk and money in the pockets of criminal gangs.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer. The last government’s Rwanda scheme took years, cost hundreds of millions of pounds and failed to remove a single person.
In a matter of weeks, we’ve returned 26 through our historic agreement with France. With flights now under way and ramping up, the message is clear, if you come here illegally, you will be detained and removed.”
