Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a business which did not use her Department's employer checking service when requested by a job applicant would be in breach of Home Office rules on recruitment and selection.

The Immigration (Restrictions on Employment Order) 2007, as amended, specifies the steps employers should take in checking a job applicant’s right to work in order to prevent illegal working. In the majority of cases, an employer establishes a statutory excuse against a civil penalty under the Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 by examining a document presented by the job applicant from a list specified in the Order.

In limited circumstances, where the job applicant has an outstanding immigration application, administrative review or appeal, the employer should confirm the person’s right to work by contacting the Home Office Employer Checking Service in order to comply with the Order. In these cases, the job applicant is unlikely to have a current and valid immigration document because their case is pending, but they may have a right to work by virtue of having submitted an in-time application, administrative review or appeal and this can be confirmed by the Home Office Employer Checking service.

The Home Office has recently launched a new Digital Checking Service which enables the holder of a biometric residence permit and, with their consent, their prospective employer to view the holder’s current immigration status on-line. The digital service will provide employers with additional assurance when conducting right to work checks, but does not currently substitute the checks specified in the Order.