Right-to-Work Checks for Sponsored Workers: Share Codes, eVisas and the 2026 Rules

Right-to-work checks and sponsor-licence compliance are often confused — they share an enforcement agency and overlap heavily in documentation. They are however two distinct legal regimes. The sponsor-licence regime governs whether a UK employer can offer a sponsored role. The right-to-work regime governs whether a specific person can take that role on day one. Every sponsored worker has to clear both gates, every time they start a new job. This guide explains how the right-to-work side works in 2026 — what the worker provides, what the employer must do, and what the post-Biometric-Residence-Permit eVisa world actually looks like.

Why the regime exists

Employing someone who does not have the right to work in the UK is a civil offence — or, where the employer knew or had reasonable cause to believe, a criminal offence. The 2024 reforms increased the maximum civil penalty to £60,000 per illegal worker for a repeat breach. A correctly performed and documented check gives the employer a statutory excuse— a defence that, if the check turns out to have been on a skilfully forged document or share code, still protects the employer from the penalty. The whole system is therefore designed to make a compliant check easy and the proof of the check durable.

Three ways a check is performed in 2026

• Online via the Home Office service — the default route for sponsored workers and every other holder of UK immigration permission. The worker generates a share code; the employer verifies it.
• Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) — for British and Irish citizens, the employer can engage a certified IDVT service provider to verify a passport digitally. This is the route most large UK employers now use for new domestic hires.
• Manual document check — still available, but increasingly the fallback. For migrants, the manual check is generally not the right route because eVisa holders do not have a physical document to inspect.

The online check, step by step

For a sponsored worker the standard sequence is:

1. Worker logs into the UKVI account at gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status using the email and phone associated with their visa application. The account hosts the eVisa.
2. Worker selects “Prove your right to work to an employer” and generates a share code. The system displays a 9-character code valid for 90 days.
3. Worker sends the code and their date of birth to the employer — email is acceptable, the share-code system itself is the source of truth.
4. Employer enters the code on the corresponding employer service at gov.uk/view-right-to-work and confirms the worker’s photo against the person starting the job. The system returns a profile page with the worker’s immigration status, work conditions, and any end date.
5. Employer retains the result — a printed or digital copy of the profile page, the date of the check, and the name of the person who carried it out — for the duration of employment and for two years after.

Follow-up checks for time-limited visas

A Skilled Worker visa has a defined end date. The employer must perform a follow-up check before that date — in practice the worker generates a new share code shortly before the renewal, or the employer waits for the post-grant notification and re-checks within a few days. The follow-up check refreshes the statutory excuse for the next period of leave.

If the worker has just submitted an in-time application for new leave but it is not yet decided — for example, during a change-of-sponsor switch — the employer can request a Positive Verification Notice from the Employer Checking Service. A PVN provides a six-month statutory excuse covering the period section 3C leave is in force.

The eVisa transition — what changed in 2024–2025

Through 2024 and 2025 the UK retired the Biometric Residence Permit as a right-to-work document. The position from 2026 onwards is:

• Sponsored workers granted leave in 2025 or later have eVisas, not BRPs.
• Workers who hold an expired BRP keep it as ID evidence but use share codes for right-to-work.
• Employers who relied on BRPs in their HR systems have rebuilt their onboarding around the share-code workflow.

Workers who lose access to their UKVI account (changed phone number, lost email password) need to recover the account through the Home Office’s account-recovery process before a new check can be performed. Plan ahead — recovery can take several weeks and there is no offline fallback.

How this differs from sponsor-licence compliance

Right-to-work compliance protects the employer in their capacity as an employer. Sponsor-licence compliance protects them in their capacity as a sponsor — sponsoring an individual worker, paying them the right salary on the right SOC code, reporting absences and changes. The same HR team usually handles both, but a sponsor that performs perfect right-to-work checks can still lose its sponsor licence over a sponsorship breach, and vice versa. The two regimes are audited separately. See our guide on sponsor licence status for what the sponsor-side breaches look like.

Frequently asked questions

What is a right-to-work check?

It is the check every UK employer is required to perform before an employee starts work, confirming that the employee has the legal right to do the job in question. It is a separate compliance regime from the sponsor licence regime and applies to UK and Irish citizens too.

How does a sponsored worker pass a right-to-work check?

By generating a share code on their UKVI online account at gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status and giving the code, with their date of birth, to the employer. The employer verifies the code against the same gov.uk service and prints or saves the response.

Do I still need a Biometric Residence Permit?

No. The UK retired BRPs as physical right-to-work evidence at the end of 2024 in favour of the digital eVisa and share-code system. An old BRP is still useful as identity evidence but is no longer the primary right-to-work proof.

How long is a share code valid for?

A right-to-work share code is valid for 90 days from the date it is generated. Workers typically regenerate the code on the day they hand it to the new employer rather than re-using an older one.

What if my employer gets the check wrong?

If the employer fails to perform a correct check, they can be issued a civil penalty per worker found to be working illegally — increased in 2024 to a maximum of £60,000 per worker. The worker can also be prosecuted in serious cases. A correct check provides the employer with a statutory excuse against the penalty.

For the rules covered here, see the Home Office’s right-to-work checks guidance on GOV.UK.