What is a right to work check?
A right to work check is a mandatory process that all UK employers must complete before a worker begins employment. It establishes whether the individual has the legal right to work in the UK and, where applicable, confirms any restrictions on the type or hours of work they can undertake. Conducting a compliant check provides the employer with a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if the worker is later found to be working illegally.
When must the check be done?
The check must be completed before employment starts. A check conducted after employment has begun does not provide a statutory excuse, even if the result is positive.
Types of right to work check
There are three ways to conduct a right to work check:
Online check using a share code — for workers with a biometric residence permit, eVisa, or settled/pre-settled status. The worker generates a share code via the UKVI online service, which the employer uses together with the worker's date of birth to view their status at https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-work
Manual document check — for British and Irish nationals using a passport or birth certificate. The employer must examine the original document, confirm it belongs to the person presenting it, and retain a clear copy alongside a signed and dated note confirming when the check was conducted
Employer Checking Service — for workers with a pending application or other circumstances where the online or manual check is not sufficient (see Article 11)
Right to work checks for British nationals
For British nationals, you need a copy of their passport photo page, or their birth certificate together with a document showing their National Insurance number. Alongside the copy, you must retain a note confirming the date the check was conducted and the name of the person who verified it.
Retaining records
All right to work check records must be retained for the duration of employment and for two years after employment ends. Digital copies are acceptable provided they are clear and legible.
Repeat checks
For workers with time-limited leave (such as a Skilled Worker visa), a repeat right to work check must be conducted before the worker's current leave expires. Borderless recommends checking no later than one month before expiry to allow time to act if needed.
What employers must not do
Employers must not conduct right to work checks in a way that discriminates against workers based on their nationality or ethnicity. All workers must be checked in the same way, regardless of where they appear to be from.
Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work
Right to Work checks in Borderless
From 8 April 2026, Borderless includes a mandatory Right to Work gate within the sponsorship offer form. The check must be completed before the offer can be submitted. When you reach the Right to Work step, the platform prompts you to enter the worker's share code and date of birth and validates the result directly. The check returns one of four outcomes:
Valid with continuous permission — the worker has the right to work with no expiry date. No repeat check is required.
Valid with time-limited permission — the worker has the right to work until a specific date. Borderless will flag the expiry date so you know when a repeat check is due.
ECS required — the share code check did not confirm the right to work and an Employer Checking Service request must be completed. The platform surfaces the ECS pathway and guides you through recording the result before the offer can proceed.
No right to work confirmed — the check returned a negative result and the offer cannot proceed.
Where a Right to Work document needs to be stored against an employment record (for example after a manual check or on receipt of a Positive Verification Notice from the ECS), use the document upload on the employment record. A document sub-type selector lets you specify whether the file is a share code result, manual check evidence, or an ECS Positive Verification Notice.