Why the first right-to-work check is never the last one

The moment an employer correctly completes a right-to-work check on a worker holding time-limited immigration permission, a clock starts running. This is broadly understood. What is less well understood is how quietly that clock can run out, and what happens when it does: the statutory excuse expires the moment the underlying permission expires, unless a follow-up check has been completed beforehand. There is no grace period for an oversight, and no cure for a missed date.

How the follow-up requirement actually works

Where an employee holds a document with a visa endorsement, the follow-up check must happen at or before expiry of the current permission. Where they hold certain other categories of document — a Certificate of Application, an Application Registration Card, a Positive Verification Notice — the excuse runs for a fixed period from a specific reference date, and a further check is required at that point. A 28-day extension exists where an employer is reasonably satisfied an employee has an outstanding in-time application to extend their leave — but that extension only starts running from the expiry date, and only applies where genuine evidence of the application exists, not merely the employee's word.

Why this shows up in enforcement data

Enforcement figures showing hundreds of civil penalties issued per quarter, averaging well over £50,000 each, are concentrated in sectors with a high proportion of time-limited visa workers. Many of those employers conducted a valid initial check. What ended their statutory excuse was a missed follow-up, months or years later, with no diary system in place to catch it. The practical fix is treating the right-to-work record as a live management document — tracking every expiry date and prompting a check well ahead of it — rather than a file created once and left alone.

This is general awareness content, not legal advice, and does not cover the specific circumstances of any organisation or sector.