Guide
Check right to work share code: how the Home Office online check works
Updated
For anyone not a British or Irish citizen, the online check is now the normal route. It is free, it works over video, and it fails in two predictable ways.
Talk to a specialist One minute in the wizard against a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker.
Question 1
What are you trying to do?
This wizard is written for employers. It follows the Home Office employer's guide, which since 1 October 2026 also covers people engaged under a worker's contract, individual sub-contractors and online matching services (see the subcontractors guide).
Email me this result
We will send you these figures and a link back to them. One email, nothing else unless you tick the box.
How to get a right to work share code
The share code comes from the worker, never the employer. They use the Home Office service Prove your right to work to an employer, which needs a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account.
To sign in they need their passport or national identity card, or their BRP number (gov.uk). Anyone who applied to the EU Settlement Scheme, used the UK Immigration: ID Check app, or set up eVisa access already has a UKVI account. The code shows the types of work they can do in the UK and for how long.
- Only people who are not British or Irish citizens can get one, plus British or Commonwealth citizens with a digital certificate of entitlement to the right of abode.
- A worker may prove their right to work with eligible original immigration documents instead of a share code, and gov.uk says an employer cannot reject them for choosing that route.
- If they cannot get a code, the Employer Checking Service is the employer's route (see below).
Share code check for employers
- The worker signs in to their UKVI account and chooses Prove your right to work to an employer, which generates a share code (gov.uk).
- You enter that code and their date of birth at Check a job applicant's right to work, the employer part of the service.
- You read the result: what work they are allowed to do, and any time limit. You save or print the profile page and record the date of the check.
The two ways this goes wrong
- Wrong kind of share code
- Share codes begin with a letter that says what they are for. A right to work code begins with W. Codes beginning R or S are generated for other services and an employer cannot use them: ask for a new right to work code. Codes are 9 characters and valid for 90 calendar days.
- Looking at the worker's screen
- The guide is explicit that it is not sufficient to view the details on the migrant part of the service. You must run the code yourself through the employer service, or you have no statutory excuse.
Why physical cards no longer work
People granted immigration permission now get an eVisa, an online record of their status, not a physical document. Employers can no longer accept biometric residence cards or permits and should ask for a share code, says gov.uk (gov.uk).
If a candidate produces a BRP, do not check it. Ask them to create or sign in to their UKVI account and send you a code.
British and Irish citizens cannot use this route
gov.uk says British and Irish citizens cannot get a share code. For them the routes are a manual document check, or a certified digital verification service if they hold a valid passport or Irish passport card. Asking a British candidate for a share code is a wasted week.
When the online check is not available
Use the Home Office Employer Checking Service where someone:
- has an outstanding application, administrative review or appeal;
- holds a Certificate of Application or an Application Registration Card;
- is a long-term lawful resident who arrived before 1988 without documents.
A Positive Verification Notice gives a statutory excuse for six months from the date in the notice, so it is a re-check date as well as a result.