Right to work checks

There are three types of right to work (RTW) checks that the College may carry out:

• an in person manual RTW check; or
• an IDSP digital RTW check (Casual Worker Team only); or
• a Home Office online RTW check

These checks may be conducted by departments, the Staff Compliance Team or the Casual Worker Team, dependent on the type of check i.e. initial or follow-up, and the individual’s employment type i.e. employee or casual worker, and nationality and immigration status, as outlined in the table above.

Additionally, where an individual has an outstanding visa/immigration status application or their immigration status requires additional verification, the Staff Compliance Team or Casual Worker Team will check this using the Home Office Employers Checking Service (ECS).

For in person manual RTW checks

Obtain original documents from one of the lists of acceptable documents for right to work checks, either List A or List B Group 1 or List B Group 2:

• List A documents provide continuous permission
• List B Group 1 documents provide time-limited permission until the expiry date of leave
• List B Group 2 documents provide time-limited permission for 6 month
  

Please note that:

• From 1 October 2022, temporary COVID-19 adjusted RTW check measures will end and manual checks must be conducted in person, as checks conducted remotely by video call will no longer be compliant with Home Office RTW legislation.
• From 6 April 2022, manual checks of Biometric Residence Permits/Cards and Frontier Worker Permits are no longer permissible and must be verified via a Home Office online RTW check.

or

For IDSP digital RTW checks (Casual Worker Team only)

Obtain digital RTW check report, including RTW documents and photo.

The digital RTW check portal supports checks for UK or Irish nationals with a valid biometric British/Irish passport or Irish passport card.

Or

For Home Office online RTW check

Obtain RTW documents and RTW share code.

The online RTW check portal supports checks for those who hold: 

• a biometric residence permit; 
• a biometric residence card; 
• status issued under the EU Settlement Scheme;
• an EU Settlement Scheme Certificate of Application (CoA);
• status issued under the points-based immigration system;
• British National Overseas (BNO) visa;
• Frontier workers permit  

and

For all manual, digital and online RTW checks

Obtain additional documents for the following:

• For Tier 4/Student visa holders:
  • Completed Student Visa work form; and
  • Where the term dates are not stated on the Student Visa work form, evidence of term and holiday dates (ideally for full duration of the study programme however, if the evidence covers a lesser period, additional evidence will be needed for employment to continue past the expiry date); or
  • Evidence of completion and/or award of the study programme to confirm that their term-time working hours restriction no longer applies whilst their Tier 4 / Student visa leave is valid
  • This requirement is in place in order to ensure that the College has on record details of when the student is able to work part-time or full-time.

• For Tier 2/Skilled workers or Tier 5/Temporary workers, sponsored by Imperial and newly arrived in UK:
  • Evidence of UK Entry date (during Entry Vignette validity period) e.g. stamp in passport / flight booking

• For Tier 2/Skilled workers or Tier 5/Temporary workers, sponsored by Imperial or another employer and undertaking supplementary work:
  • Certificate of Sponsorship, Job description and Contract (confirming normal working hours) for their sponsored employment and 
  • ATAS certificate, where undertaking relevant research  activities  
    Please note: These documents must be checked by the Staff Compliance Team before the individual is allowed to start work or access College campuses or IT network
    
    

For in person manual RTW checks

You must view the orig­i­nal doc­u­ments in the presence of the holder and check that:

• pho­tographs and dates of birth are con­sis­tent across doc­u­ments and with the individual’s ap­pear­ance;
• ex­piry dates for permission to be in the UK have not passed;
• any work restrictions allow them to do the type of work on offer;
• the doc­u­ments are gen­uine, have not been tam­pered with and be­long to the holder;
• the reasons for any dif­fer­ence in names across documents can be ex­plained by providing evidence (e.g. marriage cer­tifi­cate, di­vorce doc­u­ment, deed poll).

Please contact the Staff Compliance Team for further advice if you are concerned about the authenticity of a candidate's documentation.

For IDSP digital RTW checks (Casual Worker Team only)

You must use the IDSP digital RTW Check portal to view the individual’s digital RTW check report, including RTW documents and photo, and verify the digital check photo with the individual, either in person (through department) or via video call, to confirm that it is a true likeness.

For Home Office online RTW checks

You must use the Online RTW Check portal to view the individual’s immigration status and photo online and verify the online check photo with the individual, either in person (through department) or via video call, to confirm that it is a true likeness.

Guidance on conducting online checks is available. For any queries regarding the online checks process or result, please contact the Staff Compliance Team.

• ‌Request/copy and retain clear, good quality copies/scans of each document in a format which cannot manually be altered, including:
  • Passports: any page with the document expiry date, nationality, date of birth, signature, leave expiry date, biometric details, photograph, and any page containing information indicating the holder has an entitlement to enter or remain in the UK (visa or entry stamp) and undertake the work in question.
  • All other documents: the document in full e.g. including both sides of a Biometric Residence Permit or Application Registration Card.
  • IDSP Digital and Home Office Online RTW checks results: the dated PDF result document
  • Home Office ECS Positive Verification Notice: the dated PDF result document
• Complete the Imperial Right to Work Checklist 2023 to confirm: 
  • that the RTW check was conducted before the individual’s first day of employment; or
  • the date and time the RTW check was conducted on their first day of employment, to demonstrate that the individual did not start work before the RTW check was undertaken.
    
• Where the individual already holds a valid RTW in the UK status and the department is responsible for the RTW check, email the successful candidate’s completed Imperial Right to Work Checklist 2023 (including scanned RTW evidence document photos/scans, and saved as one PDF) to the Recruitment Hub/Staff Hub  along with the request to hire/contract request form.
• RTW checks may be completed at/after interview stage however please note the following recommendations which are designed to minimise the need for in person RTW checks wherever possible:
  

• When conducting in person interviews, please ask candidates to bring original documents evidencing their RTW (or their passport if they require/hold permission to work in the UK).
• Where EEA/non-EEA nationals provide evidence of Indefinite Leave to Remain endorsed in a current passport, please encourage them to make a free application to obtain a Biometric Residence Permit/Card. Once an application is submitted, the Staff Compliance Team will be able to verify their initial RTW via the Home Office Employers Checking Service and conduct a follow up check using the Home Office online service upon receipt of their Biometric Residence Permit/Card.
• Where the RTW check is not conducted at interview stage, this must be scheduled and completed prior to the individual’s proposed work start date.
• We recommend that you complete the RTW check and submit the completed RTW checklist and evidence with the new hire/contract request, or as soon as possible thereafter, to the HR Recruitment/Staff Hub so that this can be quality checked at the earliest opportunity. This will help to ensure that this pre-employment condition does not cause any avoidable delays to start dates.
  
• Wherever possible, we will ask EEA/non-EEA nationals with time-limited UK Entry vignettes endorsed in a current passport to collect their Biometric Residence Permit as soon as possible upon arrival in the UK, ideally before they start work as this should enable them to prove their RTW using the Home Office online service.