Right to Work Checks for Employers

UK employers can conduct right to work checks in three ways:

• Manual document check — Check original documents from List A (documents confirming a permanent right to work, such as a British or Irish passport or full birth certificate plus NI letter) or List B (time-limited right to work documents such as a BRP or a visa with time-limited leave). Verify the document is genuine, photograph it or photocopy it, and retain the copy with a note of the date the check was carried out.
• Online Home Office check — Mandatory for holders of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs), eVisas (introduced from 2025 as BRPs are phased out), or settled/pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. The individual shares a share code with you via the UKVI online portal, which you check on the Employer Checking Service. This generates a confirmation that must be retained.
• Employer Checking Service (ECS) — For cases where a document check is not possible, such as when a person has an outstanding application or appeal. The ECS can confirm if a person has the right to work pending a decision.

For a manual check, the key steps are:

• Ask the individual to provide original documents from List A or List B
• Check the documents are genuine — look at photos, dates, expiry dates, and security features
• Satisfy yourself that the person presenting the document is the person in it
• Take a clear copy (photocopy or photograph) of each document, including all pages of a passport with relevant stamps and visa vignettes
• Record the date you carried out the check on the copy
• Retain the copy securely for the duration of employment and for two years after employment ends

For online checks, retain the confirmation from the Home Office Employer Checking Service or the UKVI online service, and record the date you carried out the check. Do not accept screenshots from the individual — the check must be performed by the employer using the share code provided.

For employees who have a time-limited right to work (List B documents), you must carry out a repeat check before their current permission expires. Keep a diary system to track expiry dates for all employees with time-limited leave. UKVI recommends checking 3 months before expiry.

If an employee's leave expires and they cannot provide evidence of a valid ongoing right to work, you must stop employing them while the situation is resolved. Continuing to employ someone after their leave has expired is an illegal working offence, regardless of whether you previously had a statutory excuse.

Be aware that from late 2024, BRPs are being replaced by eVisas for most immigration categories. As this transition occurs, the right to work check process for affected employees will change to the online route. Employers should check the most current UKVI guidance on the Home Office website as BRPs are phased out.

If the Home Office finds that you have employed an illegal worker, the civil penalty can be up to £60,000 per illegal worker (increased from £20,000 in February 2024). A correctly conducted right to work check provides a statutory excuse against this penalty.

The statutory excuse is lost if the check was not carried out correctly — for example, if the documents checked were obviously false, expired, or belonged to a different person. The statutory excuse also does not apply if the employer knew (or had reasonable cause to believe) the person was working illegally.

In addition to civil penalties, employers who knowingly employ illegal workers face criminal prosecution, which can result in an unlimited fine and up to 5 years imprisonment. The Home Office publishes a public register of employers fined for employing illegal workers, which can cause significant reputational damage.