Check Employee Right to Work

UK employers are required to conduct a right to work check for all new hires, and also follow-up checks for employees with limited leave to remain in the UK (e.g., a Skilled Worker visa holder), as long as they are/have been hired under a contract of employment, service or apprenticeship (irrespective of whether such a contract is express or implied, and whether it is an oral contract or one in writing).

Per the Immigration Act 2016, all UK employers are mandated to check and verify any person’s right to work before their employment commences, irrespective of their immigration status in the country. In addition, follow-up checks are mandatory if your employee has a time-limited work permission in the UK, to ensure you are not employing people whose right to work in the country have expired. This is so because such people are also considered illegal workers from the government’s point of view if they have not renewed or extended their work permission in the UK.

Note that per the updated guidance in July 2024, you no longer need to carry out a follow-up right to work check for your employees with EU pre-settled status. This is so because the status of such employees has now been automatically extended by the Home Office.

However, you are not required to carry out a right to work check for your prospective or existing employees if they fall under any of the categories listed below:

• Individuals working for your company entirely from overseas
• People continuously employed in your company/institution since before 27 January 1997 (unless there are any changes in their employment status that may necessitate a fresh check)
• EEA or Swiss citizens who came to the UK before 1 July 2021
• Individuals aged under 16 doing work experience

Note that although you do not need to establish a statutory excuse in the above scenarios, you still must carry out a right to work check (and maintain required documentation) in case your company holds a valid sponsor licence, and is sponsoring the concerned worker, to comply with your sponsor duties.

Home Office Online Right to Work Check

If you have a job applicant’s right to work share code (which is an alphanumeric code issued to them by the Home Office) and their date of birth, you can conduct a right to work check for them on the Home Office website. Through this process, you can find out real-time information about the types of work your potential hire is allowed to do in the UK as well as how long they are permitted to work in the country in case they are holding limited leave to remain.

During the online check process, you must also match the employee’s online photo with their physical appearance. Please retain a copy of the response you receive from the online check service, either an electronic record or a hard copy, for the entire duration of their employment with you as well as for an additional two years afterwards.
Note that you cannot use the online process if your new hire is a British or Irish citizen as they cannot get a right to work share code. In such cases, you must conduct a manual check of their physical documents, or hire an IDSP to run the checking process.

Do also keep in mind that if your new migrant employee is unable to provide you with a right to share code, you must carry out a manual check of their relevant documents instead.

Manual Document-based Right to Work Check

A manual right to work check consists of three steps:

1. Get the relevant physical documents from your employee from either List A or B of the acceptable documents (depending on their immigration status)

2. Check that the:
   1. 1. Documents are original, genuine, and not altered in any way
      2. The employee’s photo and date of birth are the same across all documents. Their photo must match their physical appearance
      3. There are genuine supporting documents if there are any differences (including spelling variants) in the employee’s name across their documents
      4. Also, for people having limited leave to remain, that:
         1. Their right to work in the UK has not expired
         2. They are allowed to do the type of work being offered
         3. They are allowed to work for the required hours
         4. Proof of study and vacation times scheduled for foreign students
3. Make and keep clear copies of all relevant documents in a secure format per the data protection law along with a record of the check date

Right to Work Check Using an Identity Service Provider

You may also hire a certified IDSP to digitally verify your new hire’s identity using IDVT, if they have a valid British or Irish passport, or an Irish passport card. A certified IDSP will take all the necessary steps and ensure the required safeguards are in place while conducting the identity verification.

However, since you as the employer bear the ultimate responsibility of your employee’s right to work check, you must obtain a copy of the IDVT check as received from your IDSP along with the document(s) they checked. You must also retain this data in a secured format for the employment period plus two years.

Your existing employee or a potential hire may be unable to provide you with a share code or their right to work documentation because they:

• Have an appeal, review or application related to their UK immigration status pending with the Home Office, or
• Came to the country before 1989, and do not have necessary documents to prove their immigration status or permission to work in the UK, etc.

In such scenarios, get in touch with the Home Office for checking your employee’s or new hire’s immigration status and right to work in the UK. You must also do so if your employee:

• Has a Certificate of Application which says that you must ask the Home Office to check their right to work, or
• Has an Application Registration Card

You can employ such individuals only after you receive a ‘Positive Verification Notice’ from the Home Office, which you must keep for your records.