Prove Right to Work UK 2026: Share Code, eVisa and Employer Checks

The 2026 share code at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work

Proving the right to work to a UK employer is, for almost every worker without a British or Irish passport, a single web action. The worker goes to gov.uk/prove-right-to-work, signs in to UKVI Account using the email and password set up during eVisa migration, selects "prove your right to work to an employer", and generates a 9-character alphanumeric share code beginning with the letter W. That code, plus the worker's date of birth, is what the employer needs.

The code is valid for 90 days from the moment of generation. A worker who creates a code on 1 March 2026 must hand it over to an employer before the end of May 2026 or generate a fresh one. The expiry is on the code, not on the underlying status. A holder of indefinite leave to remain whose status itself does not expire still produces share codes that themselves expire on a 90-day cycle.

The service is free. There is no third-party charge for generating a share code. Any site asking for payment to issue one is not the official GOV.UK service.

The three statutory channels under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006

Section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 makes it a civil offence for an employer to employ a worker who does not have the right to do that work. The statutory defence ("statutory excuse") rests on the employer running one of three prescribed checks before employment starts and keeping a dated record for the duration of employment plus two years.

The first prescribed channel is the online right to work check at gov.uk/view-right-to-work, used with a worker's share code. This channel is mandatory for almost every non-British, non-Irish worker in 2026: a BRP or eVisa holder cannot lawfully be checked manually by an employer running through paper documents. The second channel is the Identity Service Provider (IDSP) route, available for British and Irish passport holders since 6 April 2022, where a certified third party verifies the passport digitally. The third channel is a manual check against a narrow list of accepted documents, used principally where the worker holds a British or Irish passport and the employer prefers an in-person check.

Worker steps: from credential to code

For a worker who has not used the service before, the journey breaks into three steps. First, sign in to the UKVI Account. The account uses the email and recovery details set up when the holder created or migrated to an eVisa. A worker who has lost the credential resets it through the UKVI Account password reset flow before proceeding.

Second, select "prove your right to work to an employer". The system generates the 9-character code. Third, send the code to the employer together with the worker's date of birth. The date of birth is not optional: the employer cannot complete a check without it, and the GOV.UK view service refuses any code submitted without a matching date of birth on the underlying record.

For workers whose status is still attached to a legacy BRP, a re-test step is sensible. A code generated immediately after the eVisa migration sometimes shows different conditions to a code generated months later, because the migration backfills work conditions to the underlying status record. Re-testing the code in a private browser, viewing the same screen the employer will see, confirms the snapshot reads correctly.

What the employer sees at gov.uk/view-right-to-work

The employer enters the share code and the worker's date of birth at gov.uk/view-right-to-work. The page returns a read-only snapshot: the worker's photograph as held by the Home Office, the immigration category (Skilled Worker, Graduate, Student, Settled Status, indefinite leave to remain), the right-to-work end date, any restrictions on hours (Student visa holders are typically capped at 20 hours per week in term time), and a flag where the role must align with sponsorship.

The employer is required to save a dated copy of that page. The Home Office guidance "Right to work checks: an employer's guide" sets out the retention period of the duration of employment plus two years. A check carried out before the start date, with a saved screenshot or PDF retained securely, is what establishes the statutory excuse against a later civil penalty.

The 2026 update: BRP retirement and the eVisa default

The single biggest change to right-to-work proof in the 2025 to 2026 window is the retirement of the Biometric Residence Permit. From 1 January 2025 most BRPs expired by design, and the eVisa, the digital immigration record visible through UKVI Account, became the default. The share code service surfaces eVisa status directly.

That matters in practice for two reasons. First, a worker who relied for years on showing a physical BRP card cannot do so in 2026. The card is no longer evidence of the underlying status, and an employer who manually scans an expired BRP no longer holds a statutory excuse. Second, eVisa data sometimes lags during the migration window. A worker should generate a share code, view it as an employer would, and confirm the photograph, category and end date are correct before sharing it. Where the data is wrong, the published correction route is the UKVI Account "update your details" function.

Civil penalties and the cost of getting the check wrong

Employer compliance is enforced through civil penalties under section 15 of the 2006 Act. The maximum penalty was raised in February 2024 to GBP 60,000 per worker for a repeat offence, and GBP 45,000 per worker for a first offence. Both figures remain in force through 2026. The penalty applies to the employer, not to the worker, and is in addition to any criminal liability that may attach to an employer who knowingly employs a person without the right to work.

The statutory excuse defence is the only practical route to avoid the penalty where a worker turns out not to have the right to work. The defence requires a prescribed check completed before employment starts, a dated record, and follow-up checks at the published intervals for time-limited status holders. A late check, or a check missing the date of birth field, does not preserve the excuse.

What this means in practice

Consider a Skilled Worker visa holder who joined a Birmingham employer in 2023, was issued a BRP, and migrated to an eVisa in late 2024. In 2026 the worker moves to a new role. Before the new start date the worker signs into UKVI Account, generates a fresh share code, opens an incognito browser, views the code with date of birth as the employer will, and confirms the page shows Skilled Worker status with the correct end date and no incorrect restrictions. The worker then sends the code and date of birth to the new HR team. The HR team performs the gov.uk/view-right-to-work check before day one and saves a dated PDF, giving the new employer a statutory excuse from the first day of employment.

How we verified this

This guide was cross-checked in May 2026 against the live GOV.UK service pages at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work and gov.uk/view-right-to-work, the Home Office publication "Right to work checks: an employer's guide" as updated through 2025, and the eVisa migration guidance on UKVI Account. The statutory framework was checked against section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 on legislation.gov.uk and the February 2024 civil penalty uplift confirmed against the Home Office publication. The IDSP route was checked against the Home Office certified digital identity service provider guidance.

Frequently asked questions

How long is a right to work share code valid in 2026?

Ninety days from the moment of generation. The 90-day clock runs on the code, not on the underlying status. A code issued on 1 March 2026 expires on 30 May 2026 regardless of whether the worker holds time-limited leave or indefinite leave to remain. A fresh code can be generated at any time at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work.

Can a British citizen use the share code service?

No. British and Irish citizens prove their right to work either by passport (manual check) or through a certified Identity Service Provider, the digital channel made available from 6 April 2022. The share code system is built for holders of digital immigration status: it does not return a record for a British or Irish passport.

What does the employer need besides the share code?

The worker's date of birth. The view service at gov.uk/view-right-to-work requires both fields. The page then returns the photograph, immigration category, end date and any work conditions held by the Home Office. The employer saves a dated copy of that page for the duration of employment plus two years.

Is a BRP card still proof of right to work in 2026?

No. From 1 January 2025 most BRPs expired and the eVisa is the default record. An employer who manually inspects an expired BRP does not establish a statutory excuse. The share code, generated from UKVI Account, is the route for non-British, non-Irish workers in 2026.

What is the civil penalty for hiring without a right to work check?

From February 2024 the maximum penalty is GBP 60,000 per worker for a repeat offence and GBP 45,000 per worker for a first offence. The figures continue to apply in 2026. The penalty falls on the employer, with a statutory excuse defence available only where a prescribed check was completed before employment started.

What if the share code shows the wrong status?

The published correction route is UKVI Account, using the "update your details" function. Where data lag from the eVisa migration has produced an incorrect record, a worker should not send a defective code to an employer: a check carried out on incorrect data may itself fail the statutory excuse test.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Prove your right to work to an employer
• GOV.UK: View a job applicant's right to work
• Home Office: Right to work checks - an employer's guide
• legislation.gov.uk: Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006