UK engineering has the same shortage as the rest of Europe and a narrower door: welders, pipe fitters, maintenance fitters and engineering technicians can be sponsored from the Philippines in 2026 on the Temporary Shortage List at the general salary threshold, CNC machinists and aircraft maintenance technicians cannot, and a newly arrived foreign national will not hold a security clearance for years. This page sets out the codes, the money, the test and the vetting reality so that a fabricator or a defence supplier plans the roles that are open.
Welding trades (5213), pipe fitters (5214), metal working production and maintenance fitters (5223) and air-conditioning and refrigeration engineers (5225) are on the Temporary Shortage List for Certificates of Sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026 (last issue date 30 December 2026), as are engineering technicians (3113) and the other technician codes 3111 to 3116. Pay is £41,700 or the going rate, whichever is higher: a welder's going rate is £34,900 so the general threshold governs; a pipe fitter's is £46,000 so the going rate governs; an engineering technician's is £42,500. None of these hires may bring dependants. The Immigration Salary List keeps one welding entry — high-integrity pipe welders with at least three years' experience — at £33,400 plus the going rate. CNC and metal machining setters (5221), sheet-metal workers (5212), metal plate workers (5211) and aircraft maintenance trades (5234) are on neither list in 2026: a UK machine shop cannot sponsor a Filipino CNC machinist this year, and an MRO cannot sponsor a technician, however experienced. Graduate-level engineers (212x codes) remain sponsorable with dependants at £41,700 or the going rate.
Since 22 July 2025 the Skilled Worker route is a graduate-level route: a role must be at RQF 6 unless it sits on the Temporary Shortage List or the Immigration Salary List, and both lists apply only to Certificates of Sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026 (last issue date 30 December 2026) unless the Government renews them. Pay must reach £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation code, whichever is higher; Immigration Salary List roles qualify from £33,400 plus the going rate, and nurses and other listed health occupations on national pay scales from £25,000 plus the going rate. The salary counted is basic gross pay for up to 48 hours a week — no allowances, overtime, bonuses or payments towards immigration costs — and since 8 April 2026 it must be met in every pay period. New applicants prove English at CEFR B2. The sponsor pays the Immigration Skills Charge of £1,320 a year (£480 for small sponsors and charities) and may not recover it. Workers sponsored in sub-graduate roles on either list cannot bring dependants, and the Government has consulted on lengthening the path to settlement from five years to ten or more, without deciding at the time of review.
Welders weld coupons to your welding procedure specification at Prime Search's Makati workshop — MAG plate, TIG root and MMA fill on pipe for process work — bend or macro tested, with drawing reading and measuring; pipe fitters fabricate a spool from an isometric; fitters strip, align and rebuild a mechanical assembly; engineering technicians are assessed on drawings, measurement and a fault-finding task. Your production manager watches live and interviews the same day. Welder qualification to BS EN ISO 9606-1 or BS 4872 is completed in the UK on the same parameters under your test house; TESDA, Gulf and shipyard certificates are evidence, not transferable qualifications.
Security clearance is a separate gate from immigration. HMG Personnel Security Controls state that the residency check for national security vetting usually spans three to ten years depending on the level — in industry practice three years' UK residence for BPSS, five for SC, ten for DV — and that a lack of UK residency is not necessarily a bar, with sponsors able to put a business case to UK Security Vetting. In practice a Filipino welder who arrived this year will not hold SC for several years. Defence and nuclear suppliers therefore plan Filipino hires on unclassified, uncontrolled scopes — commercial fabrication, non-sensitive sites, training roles — and keep cleared work with cleared staff; export-controlled programmes add their own classification step, which we set out on the aerospace and defence export-controls page.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office at the Philippine Embassy in London, which has jurisdiction for the United Kingdom and Ireland, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. Recruitment follows the employer-pays principle: no applicant pays for an interview, a trade test or a place on a shortlist, and UK sponsor guidance itself forbids passing the Immigration Skills Charge or the sponsor-licence costs to the worker. Your company is the sponsor and the employer from day one; we never employ or lease the workers.
Everything here is subject to the Immigration Rules in force on the day the Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned (Appendix Skilled Worker, Appendix Skilled Occupations, Appendix Immigration Salary List), Home Office sponsor guidance, the professional regulators and Philippine DMW rules.
No. Code 5221 is on neither the Temporary Shortage List nor the Immigration Salary List; the Migration Advisory Committee proposed it for 2027 and the Government has not decided.
£46,000 — the going rate for 5214 exceeds the £41,700 threshold. A welder is paid £41,700; a maintenance fitter £41,700; an engineering technician £42,500.
Pre-tested to your WPS in Makati; BS EN ISO 9606-1 or BS 4872 coding is completed in the UK under your test house.
Not normally for several years — national security vetting looks at three to ten years' residency depending on the level, and a shortfall needs a sponsor's business case. We plan such hires on unclassified scopes.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.