Right to Work Documents List: Complete UK Employer Reference

The right to work documents list looks longer than it needs to. The reason: each document does not just prove right to work — it also defines what your follow-up obligation looks like for the next 12 to 18 months.

A passport is not just "passport". A British passport is List A, no follow-ups, done. A passport with a current visa is List B Group 1, follow-up before expiry. A non-digital Certificate of Application is List B Group 2, follow-up every 6 months from the date in the verification notice (a digital Certificate of Application is checked online with a share code instead). Same employee, same job, three completely different ongoing obligations depending on which document was presented at hire.

This guide is the reference: the documents you can accept, which list they fall under, and what each one means for the rest of your compliance cycle.

This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your specific situation, consult a qualified immigration solicitor.

How the lists work

The official document lists come from the Home Office right to work checklist and are set out in Annex A of the employer's guide to right to work checks. Both were reissued for the rules that came into force on 1 October 2026, and the lists below follow the guide's Annex A. (The checklist's wording for List B Group 2 item 3, the Crown Dependency document, differs from the guide and the statutory Code of practice; we follow the guide and the Code.) Two top-level groupings:

• List A — permanent right to work. One initial check covers the entire employment. No follow-up obligation.
• List B — time-limited right to work. Initial check now, follow-up later. Group 1 = before expiry. Group 2 = every 6 months.

A check is only compliant if you have accepted documents from one of these lists, in the prescribed combinations, and recorded them correctly. Anything else — a driving licence on its own, a P60, a bank statement — does not give you a statutory excuse, no matter how convincing it looks.

List A — permanent right to work

If an employee presents a List A document at the initial check, you have a continuous statutory excuse for the duration of their employment. No follow-up check is required.

The List A documents in the employer's guide in force since 1 October 2026:

1. A passport (current or expired) showing the holder is a British citizen. A clipped passport is a cancelled document and is not acceptable.
2. A passport or passport card (current or expired) showing the holder is an Irish citizen.
3. A document issued by the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey or the Isle of Man, verified as valid by the Employer Checking Service, showing the holder has been granted unlimited leave to enter or remain.
4. A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is exempt from immigration control, is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK, has the right of abode in the UK, or has no time limit on their stay.
5. A current Immigration Status Document issued by the Home Office with an endorsement showing the holder is allowed to stay indefinitely or has no time limit on their stay, together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and name, issued by a government agency or a previous employer.
6. A long or short birth or adoption certificate issued in the UK, together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and name.
7. A birth or adoption certificate issued in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Ireland, together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and name.
8. A certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and name.

On items 5 to 8, see why a National Insurance number is only ever half a document pairing.

There is no longer a Biometric Residence Card or Permit on either list. The guide says BRPs "ceased to be issued by the Home Office on 31 October 2024", and that "A manual check of an original, expired BRP is not acceptable proof of right to work in the UK" — a former BRP holder proves their right to work through the online check, using a share code.

The key compliance point for List A: check the document's authenticity, check that the photo on the document is consistent with the person presenting it, make an unalterable copy, keep a secure record of the date of the check, and file it. After that, you are done — the same record covers a five-year tenure as a one-year tenure.

List B Group 1 — time-limited, expiry-driven follow-up

If an employee presents a List B Group 1 document, your statutory excuse runs until the date on the document. To extend it, you have to run a follow-up check before expiry.

List B Group 1 documents:

1. A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is allowed to stay in the UK and is currently allowed to do the type of work in question.
2. A document issued by the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey or the Isle of Man, verified as valid by the Employer Checking Service, showing the holder has been granted limited leave to enter or remain.
3. A current Immigration Status Document containing a photograph issued by the Home Office, with a valid endorsement showing the holder may stay in the UK and is allowed to do the type of work in question, together with an official document giving the person's permanent National Insurance number and name.

For each Group 1 document, you must record:

• The expiry date shown on the document
• The conditions on the work (any restriction on type of work, hours, or sponsor — for hours, see student visa work conditions)
• The date you carried out the check
• A clear copy of all relevant pages

Your next action — visa expiry tracking — flows directly from the recorded expiry date. Our visa expiry dates guide walks through the practical tracking system. The follow-up check must be one of the prescribed checks, but it does not have to be the same type of check as the initial one — see follow-up right to work checks.

List B Group 2 — pending application, 6-month cycle

List B Group 2 covers situations where the employee's substantive immigration position is unresolved — they have applied, appealed, or hold a recognised pending status. You can still employ them, but the follow-up cycle is different.

List B Group 2 documents, each of which needs a Positive Verification Notice from the Employer Checking Service:

1. A Home Office document showing an application to the EU Settlement Scheme made on or before 30 June 2021, together with a Positive Verification Notice.
2. A non-digital Certificate of Application showing an application to the EU Settlement Scheme made on or after 1 July 2021, together with a Positive Verification Notice.
3. A document issued by the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey or the Isle of Man, showing that the holder has made an application for leave to enter or remain under Appendix EU(J) to the Jersey Immigration Rules, Appendix EU to the Immigration (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Rules 2008 or Appendix EU to the Isle of Man Immigration Rules, together with a Positive Verification Notice.
4. An Application Registration Card stating that the holder is permitted to take the employment in question, together with a Positive Verification Notice.
5. A Positive Verification Notice issued by the Employer Checking Service to the employer or prospective employer, indicating that the named person may stay in the UK and is permitted to do the work in question.

The pattern is consistent across the first four: the document on its own is not enough; it must be combined with a Positive Verification Notice from the Employer Checking Service (ECS) stating that the holder is allowed to do the work. The fifth item is the Positive Verification Notice itself, which stands on its own.

A Positive Verification Notice issued in this context gives a statutory excuse that lasts 6 months — the guide puts it as "6 months from the date specified in the PVN". Before the 6 months are up, you contact the ECS again. Each fresh Positive Notice resets the cycle.

This is the most under-tracked combination in small businesses, because nothing visibly "expires" — the document itself does not have an expiry date in the same way a visa does. The 6-month clock runs in the background, and missing it has the same legal effect as missing a visa expiry: no statutory excuse from the date the notice runs out.

Online checks via share code (digital equivalent of a List B document)

For most current visa holders, the practical "document" is the digital status — an eVisa, EU Settlement Scheme status, or other Home Office account record. You verify it via a share code through the view a job applicant's right to work details service.

The share-code result page tells you whether the right to work is permanent (List A equivalent) or time-limited (List B equivalent), and shows the expiry date if applicable. A successful online check produces an excuse equivalent to checking the underlying document in person — see our share-code check guide for the step-by-step process.

There is also a third route: a check through a registered right to work digital verification service provider (RtW DVSP). Since 1 October 2026 the guide says a provider can check British or Irish passports, including Irish passport cards, "up to 6 months past the expiry date", and can "verify acceptable documents from List A and List B of Annex A when and where they are available from the issuing authority in a digital format". Our digital right to work check guide explains the route.

What is not on the lists

It is as important to know what does not give you a statutory excuse as what does. The following — though they often turn up in hire-pack collections — are not acceptable on their own:

• A driving licence (UK or otherwise)
• A National Insurance number card from HMRC (acceptable only as the National Insurance evidence in a prescribed combination, such as a UK birth certificate in List A or an Immigration Status Document in List A or List B Group 1 — never on its own)
• A P60 or P45 (acceptable only as the National Insurance evidence in one of those same combinations)
• A bank statement
• A utility bill
• A photocopy, scan or screenshot of a passport — a manual check needs the original, checked with the holder present in person or by live video link
• An expired visa or BRP (an expired vignette has no value in proving current right to work — verify the live status digitally instead)
• A "letter from a solicitor" or other professional confirming right to work

Accepting any of these, on their own, gives you nothing — no statutory excuse, no defence. If the employee turns out not to have the right to work, you face the full civil penalty under Section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

Quick reference table

List	Group	Examples	Follow-up obligation
List A	—	British or Irish passport (current or expired), UK birth certificate + National Insurance evidence; or an online check showing no time limit	None — one check covers the employment
List B	Group 1	Visa-endorsed passport, time-limited eVisa	Before the expiry date on the document
List B	Group 2	Non-digital Certificate of Application, Application Registration Card, Positive Verification Notice	Every 6 months from the latest Positive Verification Notice

For the operating process around these documents — how to check, how to record, and how to keep your statutory excuse intact — see the employer's guide to ongoing right to work compliance and the right to work checklist template.

The right document at hire is the start of the compliance process, not the end of it. Get the list right at the start, and every follow-up after that becomes a 10-minute task instead of a £45,000 risk.

Sources

• Employer's guide to right to work checks — GOV.UK (the version published on 1 October 2026, Annex A; it states that it came into force that day)
• Employers' right to work checklist (updated 1 October 2026) — GOV.UK
• Employer Checking Service — GOV.UK
• View a job applicant's right to work details — GOV.UK
• Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, Section 15 — legislation.gov.uk