An update to Right to Work guidance has confirmed, among other things, whether clipped British and Irish passports are acceptable evidence of Right to Work status.
February 2025’s update to the Employers Guide to Right to Work Checks was not as significant as some previous updates – those that introduced, and then removed, the COVID-19 temporary adjusted checks, for example.
It has, however, provided some important clarification on which documents are appropriate when evidencing Right to Work status.
The update has reiterated the decommissioning of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs), with all BRPs having expired on or before 31 December 2024 (although the Home Office have now confirmed that BRPs can still be used to enter the UK until the end of March 2025). Migrants with BRPs are strongly encouraged to access their eVisa as soon as possible and, where they are employed, generate a share code. Employers should then repeat their Right to Work checks for such workers, using the migrant’s share code.
The guidance had previously referred to the old COVID-19 temporary adjusted checks, which ceased to be valid in 2022. However, the section referring to this old form of Right to Work check has now been deleted entirely.
Perhaps most importantly, the guidance now expressly confirms that clipped British or Irish passports are cancelled documents, and therefore are not acceptable evidence of Right to Work status. This ought not to be confused with such passports that have simply expired, but not been clipped and therefore cancelled – the guidance clearly states that a current or expired British or Irish passport is acceptable evidence of Right to Work status, even though an expired passport would not be acceptable for travel purposes.
This distinction may seem slightly unusual at first glance. When renewing a British passport, the expired or expiring passport is sent to His Majesty’s Passport Office, where the corner is clipped and the document therefore cancelled, before being returned to the passport holder along with their new passport. It therefore seems that this distinction is intended to protect those people who do not renew their expired passport, as they do not plan to travel outside the UK. As such a person would not need to send their old passport anywhere, it would not be clipped, and therefore the expired – but, crucially, not cancelled – passport remains valid for Right to Work purposes.
The guidance has also clarified that long and short birth certificates are both acceptable evidence of Right to Work status, but only when presented alongside official evidence of the individual’s name and national insurance number issued by a government agency or previous employer.
Details have also been published on checking the Right to Work status of individuals on the new Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, which opened on 4 February 2025.
If you have any questions about Right to Work checks, please do get in touch at [email protected]
