Menu Close

Checking if an employee has the Right to Work

It is vital for all employers to be fully aware of the rules and regulations when it comes to employing foreign nationals in the UK. The Home Office can issue firm penalties upon employers that fail to have the relevant documentation in place for their employees. While it is often confusing and challenging to determine which documents are needed for foreign employees, Optimus Law can make your search easy.

Helping Employer’s avoid Civil Penalty

We will provide the required documents list and assist with answering questions based on your specific employment needs. Our team of lawyers will work with your HR department and senior staff to ensure that your organisations have the systems and policies in place to recognise who you can employ, the requirements of each type of employee and any limitations placed on the visa holders. We will also provide you with a checklist of records that your organisation will need to have completed as part of our ‘Right to Work’ service.

With the upcoming Brexit changes, it is necessary for EU employers to consider how to retain and validate their staff within the workplace. Although the exact outcome has yet to be decided, our legal team has familiarised itself deeply with the EU Settlement Scheme so EU nationals in the UK can settle and register themselves post-Brexit. If an employee has successfully completed the EU Settlement Scheme this will give them a ‘Right to Work’ in the UK and contributes significantly to the employer’s duty to be compliant with EU workforce.

The Home Office can issue fines up to £20,000 per illegal working employee and therefore we highly recommend for organisations to use preventative measures to stay compliant. Optimus Law offers a personalised ‘Right to Work’ service whereby our Senior Business Immigration Lawyers take responsibility to safeguard organisation and to ensure your workforce is legitimate.

Our team can assist with the settlement procedure for EU nationals, provide advice on other options such as employing non-EU students and also help recognise any fake documentation that has been submitted. Our business immigration lawyers can also assist with non-EU employees that require sponsorship through a Tier 2 Work Visa. If you wish to talk to our Business Immigration team please complete the  contact form and one of our legal team will be in touch.

FAQ's

If you have a Sponsorship License you are permitted to employ foreign nationals however you still need to be compliant with the strict requirements of the Home Office. If you employ foreign workers from the EU or outside the EU, we recommend using our business immigration lawyers to assess your current Right to Work systems and HR policies.

It is not necessary for the Home Office to issue your organization a notice to inspect your property. Often, a Civil Penalty Notice comes after an organisation has received a surprise visit by UKVI.

Any worker outside of the European Economic Area working in the UK without permission is considered an illegal worker. Post-Brexit any unsettled European worker may also be considered illegal.

Once you receive the notice from the Home Office you have two options:

  1. To pay the fine
  2. To appeal the decision within 28 days.

If you decide to appeal you will have to act quickly, our expert immigration lawyers can help you with the process by assessing the merits of an appeal and evaluating your reasoning for the workers that were considered illegal. We always recommend you seek legal advice before proceeding with an appeal. Our costs for appeals are competitive within the industry and our fees always remain fixed to be transparent from the outset on how much it will cost you to instruct us.

Testimonials

Our Clients Say

If you are still not sure about choosing us, hear from our clients themselves.

Robina is a very reliable, helpful and experienced immigration solicitor in our area. I had a successful appeal with my Tier 1 applications with the help from Robina.

Laura Jayne

I’ve loved my experience with Optimus Law. Very friendly staff, easy to talk with, they follow up with you and keep you updated! And surely I will keep using their services.

Maroun

I required a premium service application to bring my spouse to the UK in time for Christmas and the team at Optimus Law were great. Managed to do everything well before expectation. Professional service would recommend Robina to anyone!!

Ikram

Do You Have An Enquiry?

Get In Touch Or Fill Out Our Online Enquiry Form.