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

• a manual document-based check - currently conducted remotely by video call or in person
• or
• an online check

These checks may be conducted by departments, the Staff Compliance Team or the Casual Worker Team, dependent on nationality and immigration status, as highlighted 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 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 months

Please note that, from 6 April 2022, online RTW checks are mandatory for individuals who hold a Biometric Residence Permit, Biometric Residence Card and Frontier Worker Permit and that it is no longer permissible to carry out a manual check of these physical documents.

or

For online RTW checks

Obtain RTW ID 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 and online RTW checks

Obtain additional documents for the following:

• For Tier 4/Student visa holders:
  • A 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 (e.g. stamp in passport / flight booking evidence) during Entry Vignette validity period

• 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 the normal working hours)for their sponsored employment – this must be checked by the Staff Compliance Team before work starts

For 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 online RTW checks

The RTW checker will use the Online RTW Check portal to view the individual’s immigration status and photo online and will verify the online check photo themselves (if departmental checker) or by contacting the department (if Staff Compliance Team or Casual Worker Team) or conduct a video call with the individual.

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,including both sides of a Biometric Residence Permit or Application Registration Card.
  • Online RTW checks results: the dated PDF result document
• Complete the Right to Work Checklist 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 departments is responsible for the RTW check, email the successful candidate’s completed Right to Work Checklist‌ (including scanned RTW evidence document photos/scans, and saved as one PDF) to the relevant team along with the request to hire/contract request form.
• RTW checks may be completed at/after interview stage.
• 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.
• Wherever possible 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 to allow sufficient time for this to be quality checked. This will help to ensure that this pre-employment condition does not cause any avoidable delays to start dates.

Useful UKVI guidance:

• Check if someone has the right to work - online tool
• Employers' guide to right to work checks