On 1 July 2021 new guidance on Right to Work (RTW) checks on European Economic Area (EEA) citizens came into force as a result of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU). All EU, EEA and Swiss citizens must have applied to the EU Settlement scheme by 30 June 2021 with the exception of EU, EEA or Swiss citizens with:
- indefinite leave to enter the UK
- indefinite leave to remain in the UK
- Irish citizenship (including British and Irish ‘dual citizenship’)
Those who apply successfully will receive:
- ‘Pre-settled status’ – this means a person has applied for settled status to the UK. Individuals with pre-settled status can stay in the UK for five years from the date they received pre-settled status. After five years they can apply to the scheme again to achieve ‘settled status’.
- ‘Settled status’ – this means the person has lived in the UK for a continuous five-year period under pre-settled status conditions and has not left the UK for more than five years in a row since then. A person with settled status can stay in the UK as long as they wish.
Verifying EU Settlement Status
The process of verifying a candidate’s EU Settlement Status will be completed by HRSS during the Pre-employment checking stage.
Before HRSS can verify a candidate’s EU Settlement Status, the candidate must provide a valid Home office Share Code via the Amiqus Digital Pre-employment Checking (DPEC) system.
Further guidance
Further guidance on the EU settlement scheme can be found below:
EU Settlement Scheme: leaflet - GOV.UK
An employer's guide to right to work checks