# Right to Work Wizard

> Free right to work check wizard for UK employers: manual document check, Home Office online share code check, or a certified digital verification service. Sourced.

## Key facts

- An employer who does not carry out the correct right to work check can face a civil penalty of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker (gov.uk, penalties for employing illegal workers).
- A Home Office right to work share code is 9 characters long, begins with the letter W, and is valid for 90 calendar days; codes beginning R or S are for other services and cannot be used for a right to work check.
- Physical biometric residence permits and cards are no longer acceptable evidence of the right to work: gov.uk tells employers to ask for a share code instead.
- Right to work check evidence must be kept for the duration of the person's employment and a further two years after they stop working for you, then securely destroyed.

## Key pages

- [Which right to work check do you need in the UK?](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/): the main tool, answer above the fold.
- [Right to work check documents: List A and List B explained](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/right-to-work-check-documents/): Which documents you can accept for a right to work check, what List A and List B mean for your statutory excuse, and the three steps: obtain, check, copy.
- [Right to work share code: how the Home Office online check works](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/right-to-work-share-code/): How a right to work share code works, why it must begin with W, why 90 days matters, and how to run the Home Office online check so it gives you a statutory excuse.
- [Right to work check with a BRP: why it no longer counts](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/right-to-work-check-brp/): Biometric residence permits and cards are no longer acceptable evidence for a right to work check. What replaced them, what to ask candidates for, and what to fix.
- [Right to work check cost: what is free and what you pay for](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/right-to-work-check-cost/): The Home Office online right to work check is free. What you may pay for is a digital verification service, an audit or advice. What drives those prices, and what to ask.
- [Right to work check for employers: the duty, the routes, the penalty](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/right-to-work-check-employer/): What an employer must do before someone starts, the three routes gov.uk recognises, when a repeat check falls due, and the civil penalty for getting it wrong.
- [Which right to work check applies, by who you are hiring](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/#data): original data table, updated 2026-08-14.
- [Full site content as markdown](https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/llms-full.txt)

## Data

- Which right to work check applies, by who you are hiring. Methodology: Mapped from the Home Office employer's guide to right to work checks (26 June 2025 accessible edition, page updated 16 July 2026) and the gov.uk pages on checking a job applicant's right to work and penalties for employing illegal workers, read on the updated date above. Where the guide restricts a route to a category of person, that restriction is reproduced rather than generalised. Retention in every row is the duration of employment plus two years, then secure destruction.
- Last updated: 2026-08-14. Every figure cites its source inline.
- Source: gov.uk, checking a job applicant's right to work: https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work
- Source: gov.uk, check a job applicant's right to work: use their share code: https://www.gov.uk/view-right-to-work
- Source: gov.uk, prove your right to work to an employer: https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-work
- Source: gov.uk, penalties for employing illegal workers: https://www.gov.uk/penalties-for-employing-illegal-workers
- Source: Home Office, employer's guide to right to work checks (26 June 2025 accessible edition): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide/employers-guide-to-right-to-work-checks-26-june-2025-accessible
- Source: Home Office, right to work checks employer guidance collection: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/right-to-work-checks-employer-guidance
- Source: gov.uk, right to work checklist: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checklist

## Citation

Cite as: "Which right to work check applies, by who you are hiring", Right to Work Wizard, https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-14).

## About

- Right to Work Wizard is a guide. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Home Office, UK Visas and Immigration or any government body, and nothing here is legal or immigration advice. Immigration rules and Home Office guidance change: verify the current position in the employer's guide linked in our sources before you rely on an outcome, and take advice on anything unusual. If you ask us to, we will pass your details to immigration solicitors and advisers, who may pay us a fee; you pay nothing and are under no obligation.
- Operated by righttoworkwizard.co.uk. Contact: enquiries@righttoworkwizard.co.uk