Right to Work Share Code UK 2026: How to Get and Use One

What a right to work share code is and who needs one

The right to work share code is the gateway document of the UK's online immigration status system. It is a 9-character alphanumeric code, beginning with the letter W, that any holder of a UK immigration permission can generate at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work. The code unlocks a read-only snapshot of the holder's status: their photograph, immigration category, visa expiry date and any work conditions attached to that status. An employer or prospective employer uses this snapshot to satisfy the statutory right to work check required by section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

Anyone whose status is recorded digitally by the Home Office can produce a share code. That category includes holders of an eVisa (the digital record that replaced the Biometric Residence Permit at the end of 2024), people with status under the EU Settlement Scheme, those with a frontier worker permit, and most points-based system route migrants. British citizens and Irish citizens do not need to use the service: their right to work is established by passport or, for British citizens born here, by birth certificate plus a National Insurance number.

Share codes are also used outside the employment context, but the format and the validity window are identical. A landlord performing a right to rent check uses a parallel service at gov.uk/view-right-to-rent. A licensing authority running a personal licence application can request a similar code. The right to work variant is the most heavily used because it sits inside every UK hiring process where a candidate is not a British or Irish national.

How a worker gets a right to work share code

The applicant signs in to the GOV.UK service at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work using their UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account credentials. These are the same credentials used to access an eVisa or to update sponsor details. The login requires the holder's identity document number, date of birth, and a confirmation code sent to the registered mobile or email address.

Once inside, the holder selects the option labelled "prove your right to work to an employer". The service produces a code on screen. The same code is also emailed to the address held on file. The holder copies the code and shares it with the employer alongside their date of birth: the employer cannot verify the code without that second data point.

The 90-day validity window starts at the moment of generation. If an employer takes longer than 90 days to view the code, the link expires and the worker has to generate a fresh one. In practice that rarely happens: employers usually verify within minutes of receiving the code so they can issue a contract. The worker can generate as many codes as needed at no cost.

Holders without a UKVI account, including some long-resident migrants who never transitioned from a physical BRP, will need to create an account first at gov.uk/eVisa. The setup uses the UK Immigration: ID Check app for biometric facial matching, then links the resulting account to existing immigration records. People who lose access to their account, for instance after changing phone number and email, can recover access through the technical support route on GOV.UK.

How the employer verifies a share code

An employer goes to gov.uk/view-right-to-work and enters the 9-character code together with the worker's date of birth. The page returns a profile summary showing the worker's name, photograph, the category of their immigration permission, any work restrictions (such as a 20-hour cap for student visa holders during term time), and the expiry date of their leave.

To create a statutory excuse against a civil penalty for illegal working, the employer must do three things in the same workflow. First, view the profile on screen while the candidate is present in person or on a live video call. Second, satisfy themselves that the photograph on screen matches the candidate. Third, retain a clear copy of the profile (a screenshot or PDF export) for the duration of employment and for two years afterwards. The check must be completed before the worker starts the role.

If the worker's leave has an end date, the employer also has to set a follow-up check before that expiry. A common practical approach is to enter the expiry date into the human resources calendar and to ask the worker for a fresh share code 30 days before the leave runs out. Failing to follow up is one of the most common reasons employers lose their statutory excuse during a Home Office audit.

Categories of worker that still cannot use a share code

The online check covers most modern immigration categories. There are, however, a few groups whose status is not recorded digitally in a way the share code service can read. British and Irish citizens are the obvious example: they prove their right to work using passport or birth certificate documents listed in List A of the Home Office's right to work code of practice.

Older categories of leave that pre-date the eVisa rollout, including some legacy indefinite leave to remain stamps in expired passports, may require a separate Home Office check called an Employer Checking Service request. The employer submits the worker's details on GOV.UK and receives a positive verification notice (PVN) by email within five working days. The PVN provides a six-month statutory excuse and is the route used when a holder cannot generate a share code because their record sits outside the online system.

Crown servants and certain commonwealth citizens with right of abode also prove their status outside the share code service. The right of abode certificate is endorsed in a passport and listed in List A of the code of practice rather than verified online.

The 2026 enforcement landscape

Civil penalties for illegal working were raised in February 2024 and remain at the elevated level for 2026. The maximum penalty is GBP 45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and GBP 60,000 per worker for a repeat breach within three years. The penalty is issued by the Home Office under section 15 of the 2006 Act. Mitigating factors, including evidence of right to work checks at the point of hire, can reduce the figure but only where the statutory excuse was correctly established at the start of employment.

Criminal liability under section 21 of the same Act continues to apply where an employer knowingly hires a person without leave to work. The maximum sentence on indictment is five years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Prosecutions remain rare and are reserved for cases where the Home Office establishes wilful blindness or active concealment.

The compliance picture also includes sponsor licence consequences. Holders of a Worker or Temporary Worker sponsor licence are required to perform right to work checks on every sponsored migrant they recruit. A failed check during a UKVI compliance visit can result in licence downgrade, suspension, or revocation. Loss of a sponsor licence terminates the leave of every migrant sponsored under it, which means a single missed share code check can affect dozens of workers.

Common share code mistakes that void the statutory excuse

Three patterns appear repeatedly in compliance audit reports published by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. First, employers accept a share code generated for right to rent rather than right to work. The two services produce visually similar codes but the rent code returns rental status only and does not provide a defence against an employment civil penalty. The fix is to insist on a code generated from gov.uk/prove-right-to-work and to use only the matching verification page at gov.uk/view-right-to-work.

Second, employers carry out the check after the start date rather than before. The statutory excuse only attaches if the check is completed and the screenshot retained before the worker's first day. Late checks do not retrospectively cure the failure.

Third, employers fail to schedule the follow-up check. A migrant whose leave expires during employment must produce a fresh share code on or before the expiry date. If they cannot, employment must end on the date the original leave expired or the employer loses the statutory excuse from that point.

Identity Service Providers and digital identity checks

Since April 2022, British and Irish citizens can prove their right to work either using the traditional passport-and-document route or through an Identity Service Provider (IDSP) certified by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The IDSP route uses an app to scan the passport chip, compare the photograph against a live selfie, and issue a digital identity report that the employer keeps on file. The IDSP route is optional for British and Irish citizens and is not available for migrants holding any other immigration category, who must use the share code service instead.

Employers operating high-volume hiring (logistics, hospitality, social care) often pair the IDSP route for British and Irish hires with the share code service for everyone else. The two routes generate equally valid statutory excuses provided each is used with the worker category for which it is intended.

European workers and the EU Settlement Scheme

Citizens of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland resident in the UK before 31 December 2020 prove their right to work through the EU Settlement Scheme. Their immigration status, either pre-settled or settled, is held digitally and they generate share codes through exactly the same gov.uk/prove-right-to-work flow as other migrants. There is no physical document associated with EUSS status: the share code is the only way to evidence it for an employer.

The Home Office completed the transition of pre-settled status holders to automatic five-year extensions in 2024, and most pre-settled status holders who have completed five continuous years are now eligible to apply for settled status. From a right to work perspective, both pre-settled and settled status carry unrestricted access to the UK labour market, so the employer's verification process is identical for either category.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a right to work share code last?

A share code is valid for 90 days from the moment the worker generates it. The 90 days run from creation, not from the date the employer first views the profile. If the employer waits longer than 90 days the code expires and the worker must generate a fresh one at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work. There is no cost or limit on how many codes a worker can generate.

Can a worker generate a share code from outside the UK?

Yes, provided they have an active UKVI account and a UK immigration status held digitally. The service does not check the user's location. A worker who is on a short trip abroad and has a job offer in the UK can generate the code, send it to the employer in the UK, and have the verification completed remotely over video call before they fly back.

What happens if an employer loses the screenshot of a verified share code?

The statutory excuse only attaches if the employer retains evidence of the check for the duration of employment and two years afterwards. Losing the screenshot before that period elapses removes the excuse if a civil penalty is later considered. The practical fix is to ask the worker to generate a fresh code and to redo the check; this restarts the retention clock from the date of the new check.

Is a right to work share code the same as a national insurance number?

No. A National Insurance number is a tax and benefits reference issued by HMRC. A share code is an immigration status reference issued by the Home Office. Possession of a National Insurance number is not, on its own, proof of permission to work and an employer who relies on it alone has no statutory excuse against a civil penalty.

What does a "European share code" mean?

The phrase is colloquial. It refers to a share code generated by a holder of EU Settlement Scheme status, that is, an EEA or Swiss citizen with pre-settled or settled status in the UK. Technically the share code is identical in format to any other right to work code, but the verification page will show the worker's status as EUSS rather than as a points-based system route.

Can a worker still use their Biometric Residence Permit instead of a share code?

Most BRP cards expired on 31 December 2024 even where the underlying immigration leave continues beyond that date. From 1 January 2025 the eVisa, accessed and shared via the gov.uk service, is the primary record. Employers should not accept an expired BRP as proof of right to work even if the worker's underlying leave is still valid; they should ask for a share code instead.

Do students need a share code if they only want to work part-time?

Yes. Student visa holders who take any paid work, including part-time bar shifts or internships, must provide a share code to the employer. The verification profile will show the weekly hours cap that applies under their visa conditions (typically 20 hours during term time for degree-level study). The employer is responsible for ensuring that hours worked do not breach the cap.

How we verified this

This guide draws on the Home Office's Right to work checks: an employer's guide (last updated for 2026 by the Home Office), the statutory code of practice on preventing illegal working, the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, and the published civil penalty scheme. The share code mechanics described above were re-tested against the public flow on gov.uk/prove-right-to-work in May 2026. Civil penalty figures are taken from the 2024 uplift confirmed by the Home Office and reflected in the current edition of the employer's guide.

Primary sources and further reading

• GOV.UK: Prove your right to work to an employer
• GOV.UK: View a job applicant's right to work details
• Home Office: Right to work checks - an employer's guide
• Home Office: Code of practice on preventing illegal working
• legislation.gov.uk: Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006
• GOV.UK: Check an employee's immigration status (Employer Checking Service)