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Right to Work Compliance

Herrington Carmichael is a full service law firm offering legal advice to UK and international businesses as well as individuals and families.
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Right to Work Compliance

The purpose of an immigration audit is to identify and resolve any areas of non-compliance in your organisation. It is an assessment and review of HR documents, systems, and processes to ensure compliance in readiness sponsorship and for potential visits from the Home Office.

UK employers who are registered sponsors or are applying for registration under the Sponsor Licence route can expect, during the course of the licence or the application process, to receive a visit from a compliance officer of the Home Office sponsor licensing team.

To prevent Home Office scrutiny and penalties we can offer a mock audit to ensure the following:

  • That the processes and HR systems and practices in place enable you to meet your sponsorship duties
  • Compliance with an employer’s legal responsibilities towards the prevention of illegal working and any other relevant legislation

Full compliance will secure an ‘A’ rating licence from the sponsor team. Non-compliance could lead to the loss of your licence, failure to grant a sponsor licence, and/or a fine.

How we can help

We understand the complexities of UK immigration processes, the legal requirements and the issues arising from compliance visits. Our audit services are tailored to meet your business needs and budget whilst ensuring you avoid the potential of incurring penalties or even prosecution. We can apply an appropriately scaled audit to meet your business needs.

Employing illegal workers can result in imprisonment of up to five years and an unlimited fine if you do not conduct sufficient Right to Work checks. The Home Office expects employers to verify and retain documents in an organised system to ensure continuing compliance. Your obligations do not end once the individual starts employment. If you fail to carry out the compliance checks properly, you can be fined up to £60,000 per illegal worker. We can assist by providing relevant training and advice to ensure checks are completed correctly in line with the Home Office guidance.

Our team will ensure that you maintain ongoing compliance with your sponsorship duties and employing migrants generally. If we identify any issues in regards to non-compliance, our team will work with you to improve your processes, recommend new procedures or best practices to ensure compliance. We can provide in-house training to your staff. We can also take on the key roles in your licence to assist with your compliance duties.

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Usof Shah PNG
Usof Shah
Legal Director
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Key contact

Usof Shah PNG
Usof Shah
Legal Director
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What our clients say about us

We have also greatly benefited from the excellent work of Usof Shah, Immigration Director, whose expertise has been instrumental in helping our members address critical skills shortages in the construction industry. Usof has provided clear, actionable guidance on immigration laws, empowering our members to legally employ skilled foreign workers and sustain their businesses. His commitment extends beyond traditional legal services - he has delivered live webinars and offered free advice to some of our SME members, which was highly valued and, in several cases, helped save their companies. This combination of deep legal expertise, accessibility, and genuine care for clients' success sets him apart from others in the field.

Throughout my UK career, I came across many solicitors and solicitor firms. But Herrington Carmichael is the best so far. Their quick response, wider knowledge, and straightforward decisions come with a very competitive advisory fee. I can easily recommend them, and I did. Their success rate for me is 100%. In a nutshell, they are brilliant.

The individual deals with my requirements and makes sure I fully understand what he is advising and what the best way to proceed is.

Responsive, commercial, and able to explain immigration requirements in clear, simple terms.

The individuals we work with stand out for being approachable, knowledgeable, and responsive. Usof Shah, in particular, has been extremely professional, helpful, and practical in his advice.

Usof Shah stands out for his strong combination of technical expertise, commercial awareness, and responsiveness. He is able to explain complex immigration matters in a clear and practical way while remaining highly approachable and solutions-oriented throughout the process. What differentiates him from competitors is the level of personal attention and ownership he brings to matters. He is proactive, detail-oriented, and demonstrates a strong understanding of the operational and business needs of his clients rather than approaching matters from a purely technical perspective. I have particularly valued his responsiveness, clear communication, and ability to manage matters efficiently under tight timelines. He consistently provides pragmatic advice and maintains a high level of professionalism, which creates a strong sense of confidence and reliability throughout the engagement.

Usof Shah and his team stood out for their professionalism, responsiveness, and clear communication.

Herrington Carmichael’s team stands out for its strong expertise in immigration matters, combined with a highly personalized and responsive service. Over the past few years, they supported me and three members of my family, managing each of our individual cases efficiently and professionally. Compared to other firms, they are notably more organized and responsive.

Thank you for helping me to apply the exceptional assurance and I got the application succeed very quickly.

Usof was a pleasure to work with and his wealth of knowledge on the topic of immigration law was evident. We collaboratively delivered a successful webinar to hundreds of construction professionals on the post-Brexit immigration system and Usof was able to answer complex questions on the spot, demonstrating his attention to detail and professionalism. We would not hesitate to recommend Usof and Herrington Carmichael.

Usof Shah has been a great source of information and guidance both in setting up to become a sponsor and also in getting candidates sponsored.

The team provides useful guidance and support on the pitfalls and processes of being a sponsor. The team helps set everything up to become a sponsor as well as assisting with processing CoS applications.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to your most pressing questions about our services and processes.

There are many duties within the following five areas: Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal working Maintaining migrant workers’ contact details Record keeping Migrant tracking and monitoring Recruitment practices and professional accreditations We can assist, either through training or management, with the above areas of duty.

If the Home Office conducts a compliance visit and finds that a sponsor is non-compliant, this can result in penalties including imprisonment, fines, licence downgrading and licence revocations.

No. But it is highly recommended as immigration lawyers are specialists in the field, know the ins and outs of the law, and stay up to date with the ever-changing immigration law landscape. Whether you want to hire a migrant as a once-off or as a regular occurrence, there is a lot that goes into hiring them, and a specialist lawyer can do it quicker and with less risk.

Right to work checks are mandatory in order to have a statutory defence for hiring illegal workers.

You can do an online check using the online service. The online right to work checking service sets out the information you require to complete the check. In some circumstances, it will not be possible to conduct an online check (i.e. British, settled persons); in these cases, you should conduct the manual check or use a Home Office-approved identity service provider. Individuals must first provide a share code to the employer to conduct the online check. The individual will generate a 9-character share code to pass to the employer. The employer should then enter the share code and the individual’s date of birth to access the online check. The employer must then check that the photograph on the online check is the individual presenting themselves for work. This can either be in person, or by video call. The employer must retain evidence of the online right to work check. This should include the ‘profile’ page confirming the individual’s right to work, showing the photo, and date the check was conducted. You must carry out an online video call to satisfy yourself that the person is who they say they are. You do not need to see the physical documents as the right to work information is provided directly from the Home Office systems at the time the check is conducted.

You must carry out a repeat right to work check on all migrants with a time limit on their visa. The check must be carried out by the expiry of the initial visa and show that they continue to have permission to work beyond the expiry date of their visa.

You should obtain a Positive Verification Notice (PVN) from the Home Office. This will confirm that the individual has a pending application and a right to work whilst the application is under consideration. A PVN can be obtained online via this link: www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work

There are varying penalties available if you are found to be hiring illegal workers and you have not carried out the correct right-to-work check. You can be sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and pay an unlimited fine if found guilty of employing someone who you knew or had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ did not have the right to work in the UK.

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