The UK Home Office has recently published an updated employer’s guide, effective from 12 February 2025. Employers need to stay informed about the latest updates to ensure they remain compliant with immigration laws. In this blog, we’ll break down the key changes in the guidance, how they affect your recruitment practices and what actions you need to take to stay on the right side of the law.
The recent changes include the consolidation of the “Previous versions of this guidance” section to make it more accessible and easier to understand.
1. Changes to immigration documentation: the decommissioning of BRP and BRC
The guidance confirms that biometric cards, including Biometric Residence Permits (BRP) and Biometric Residence Cards (BRC), are being decommissioned. This means that individuals who have previously used a physical immigration document, such as a BRP, BRC or a legacy paper document, must now take action to create a UKVI account to access their eVisa to prove their right to work in the UK. Employers will need to familiarise themselves with the eVisa to stay compliant.
2. Updated acceptable documents for manual right-to-work checks
The Home Office has updated Annex A, which outlines acceptable documents for manual right-to-work checks. For example, clipped British or Irish passports are now considered cancelled documents and will no longer be accepted as proof of an individual’s right to work. Additionally, short or long birth certificates are now considered acceptable, but only when presented alongside official evidence of the individual’s name and national insurance number.
3. Changes for Ukrainian nationals
In Annex D, the update confirms the launch of the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme on 4 February 2025. This allows Ukrainian nationals who are already in the UK to extend their stay and retain their work rights in the UK.
4. Goodbye to COVID-19 Temporary Adjustments
The section of guidance related to COVID-19 temporary adjusted right-to-work checks, introduced during the pandemic, has now been removed. These temporary measures were previously in place due to the challenges of physical document checks during lockdowns, but are no longer applicable as the pandemic restrictions have eased.
What should I do as an employer?
With these changes, it’s crucial for employers to:
- Ensure employees transition to eVisas where necessary, especially those who have relied on BRPs and BRCs.
- Review and update their documentation checks in line with the updated Annex A.
- Stay informed about the new extension scheme for Ukrainian nationals and ensure their documentation is correctly processed.
- Return to pre-pandemic right-to-work check procedures following the removal of the temporary COVID-19 adjustments.
These changes aim to streamline the process, making it clearer and more accessible for employers to ensure compliance with the right-to-work requirements.
Updated: 24 February 2025
How Gherson can assist
Gherson’s Immigration Team are highly experienced in advising on UK visa matters. If you have any questions arising from this blog, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice, send us an e-mail, or, alternatively, follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to stay-up-to-date.
The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please do not hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.
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