Right to Work Share Code: How to Get One and What to Do If It Fails

You must prove your right to work to your employer before you start working for them. How you do that depends on your nationality and the permission you have to work in the UK.

You get the code from the Home Office online service, which you sign in to with your UKVI account. You will already have an account if you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme, used the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app, created one when you applied for a visa, or created one to get access to your eVisa.

A share code made for renting a home is not a right to work code. Our right to rent share code guide covers that one.

A right to work share code is valid for 90 calendar days from the day it is issued. You can use it as many times as you need within that time, but only for the purpose you picked when you got it.

If a code has expired, or you made it for a different service, your employer has to ask you for a new right to work code. Employers cannot accept codes that begin with the letter R or S, because those are designed for other services.

Your employer goes to the GOV.UK check a job applicant's right to work service, enters your share code and your date of birth, and checks that the photograph is you. They can do that in person, on a video call, or with facial recognition from a registered digital identity provider.

They can only take you on, or keep you on, if the check confirms you have the right to work and no condition stops you doing the job. They must keep a copy of the profile page showing your photo and the date of the check. The copy has to be kept for as long as you work for them and for two years afterwards.

Looking at the screen you see when you generate the code, or a printout of it, is not enough. The employer has to run the check themselves.

If your permission to work has an end date, your employer has to check again on or before that date. If the first check showed settled status, or status under the EU Settlement Scheme, they do not need to check again.

• ✓Yes: You cannot view your eVisa. You cannot access it until your UKVI account is linked to it, so check you finished setting the account up
• ✓Yes: Your eVisa shows wrong details, such as the wrong date of birth or immigration status, or you can view it but cannot get a share code. Report the error to the Home Office
• ✓Yes: You cannot sign in. GOV.UK has a way to recover your UKVI account, and UKVI has a webchat
• ✓Yes: Your biometric residence permit has expired. You can use an expired card to create your UKVI account for 24 months after the expiry date printed on it, or until 31 December 2026, whichever comes first
• ✓Yes: The online service has a fault. If it produces an incorrect code or result, or you cannot generate a code for the moment, your employer can use the Employer Checking Service to confirm your right to work
• ✓Yes: You cannot use the service at all. You can prove your right to work with your original immigration documents instead

For help with the online service you can call the UKVI Resolution Centre on 0300 790 6268. Your employer can call the Home Office Employer Enquiry helpline on the same number.

If you apply to extend your stay before your current permission runs out, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 extends your existing permission, and any conditions that came with it, while the Home Office decides. It also continues while an appeal or administrative review you are entitled to is pending. This is called 3C leave.

If you hold an eVisa and tell your employer you have an in-time application waiting, they should run an online check. The service then confirms your right to work and gives your employer a statutory excuse for six months.

• ✗No: Choose the method for you. Employers cannot dictate how you prove your right to work, and should give you a reasonable opportunity to prove it
• ✗No: Refuse an eligible immigration document because you did not give a share code
• ✗No: Treat you less favourably because you have no valid passport, or because you do not want a digital identity check. They must offer a manual document check instead
• ✗No: Assume you have no right to work because of your race, nationality, accent, surname or how long you have lived in the UK
• ✗No: Check only the people they think are migrants. They have to check every worker the same way, British citizens included

If you think an employer, a prospective employer or an employment agency discriminated against you because of your race or another protected characteristic, you can bring a complaint to an Employment Tribunal. In Northern Ireland the complaint goes to an Industrial Tribunal. If it succeeds, the tribunal will normally order the employer to pay compensation, and there is no upper limit. Our discrimination at work guide explains how a claim works.

For advice on discrimination, the Equality Advisory Support Service is on 0808 800 0082. In Northern Ireland the advice service is the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, on 028 90 500600.

From 1 October 2026 the duty to check right to work reaches more than traditional employers. It covers businesses that engage people on a contract for services, as individual sub-contractors, or through an online matching service. The Home Office gives a delivery platform and a service that matches cleaners to customers as examples.

If you sign up to work through a platform or an online matching service, the business that engages you is now responsible for checking your right to work, as an employer is for an employee. Our right to work checks guide sets out who is covered. If you are on a zero-hours or casual contract, see the zero-hours contracts guide for your other rights.

Right to work checks are set by law that applies across the whole of the UK, in sections 15 to 25 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and other Acts. The same steps apply in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What differs is where you complain about discrimination. In England, Scotland and Wales you go to an Employment Tribunal. In Northern Ireland you go to an Industrial Tribunal, and the advice service is the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. A discrimination claim is brought under the Equality Act 2010 or, in Northern Ireland, the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, as amended.