This article explains how to prove your right to work in the UK using your eVisa, also known as your digital profile. It outlines the steps to generate a share code and provide it to your employer for verification. Additionally, it covers what to do if you are awaiting a decision on an application, including the use of a Certificate of Application (COA) or the Employer Checking Service to confirm your right to work.
Proving your right to work with a share code
After Brexit, all EU citizens and their family members who wish to live and work in the UK must have valid immigration status. If you have been granted settled or pre-settled status, you will need to prove your right to work in the UK each time you start a new job. There is no physical proof of your immigration status. Instead, you must log into your digital profile (or eVisa) and generate a share code that your employer can use to verify your right to work.
Remember that to successfully use your digital profile, you must make sure that the login details and ID document linked with your status are up-to-date. You can find more information on how to update the detais in your profile in this article.
First, you must access your digital profile in this link. You can log in with four easy steps:
- Enter the number of the ID document that you used to apply for your status.
- Enter your date of birth.
- Request a security code to be sent to your mobile phone or email address.
- Type in the 6-digit security code.
This is your digital profile.
It states that you can live, work and study in the UK, and how long you can stay in the UK.
Click the green ‘Get a Share Code’ button below your photo, and you will be directed to a page asking why you need a share code. There are different types of share codes, each valid only for a specific purpose.
If you need to prove your right to work, you must generate a ‘right to work’ share code to provide to your employer. For other purposes—such as applying for benefits, studying, or obtaining a driving license—you must use the third option: ‘to prove my immigration status for anything else’. Using the wrong share code may result in your request being rejected (e.g., a ‘right to work’ share code will not be valid for a social housing application).
If you live in Scotland, you can ignore the ‘prove my right to rent’ option, as it applies only to England. In Scotland, landlords are not required to check a tenant’s immigration status. However, if you are applying for social housing, you will need to prove your status and right to reside. In this case, use the third option.
Once you select the type of share code you need and click the green ‘Continue’ button, your share code will be displayed.
You can write it down for later use, or choose to download it as a PDF, print it, or send it via email.
The share code remains valid for 90 days and can be used multiple times within that period.
Important Note: If you have pre-settled status and use a share code to prove your right to work, your employer will not see the expiry date of your status in the confirmation they receive. They are not required to conduct regular checks to verify your continued right to work.
For both settled and pre-settled status, the share code only needs to be checked once at the start of your employment. This verification is sufficient for permanent employment.
Proving your Right to Work with Certificate of Application (CoA)
If you have submitted a valid application but have not yet received a decision, your right to reside and work in the UK remains protected.
On 6th August 2021, the Home Office announced additional temporary protection for individuals who submitted late applications under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). This means that as long as your application is valid, your rights are safeguarded while you await a decision.
To prove your right to work, you can use the Certificate of Application (CoA), which is issued once a Home Office caseworker confirms the validity of your application.
Since August 2023, following changes to immigration rules, the CoA is no longer issued automatically upon submission. Caseworkers must first assess whether you meet the validity requirements (e.g., if you applied late, you must provide reasonable grounds for doing so).
If you do not meet these requirements, your application will be rejected as invalid, and you will not receive a CoA.
For more details on these immigration rule changes, refer to our full article here.
It is important to note that the Certificate of Application (CoA) is not a form of temporary status, but rather a confirmation that you have submitted a valid application. While it provides temporary protection of rights in the UK, this protection only lasts until a decision is made on your application.
If your application is refused, you have the right to appeal the decision. However, once the appeal process is concluded, the temporary protection no longer applies.
If you have received a digital Certificate of Application, you can access it just like your digital profile via the UK government website, as explained above. From there, you can generate a Share Code to prove your right to work.
If you are unable to generate a Share Code, your employer can verify your right to work by contacting the Home Office Employer Checking Service.
Once your employer checks your right to work using your Certificate of Application (CoA), they will receive confirmation that they can legally employ you. This confirmation is valid for 6 months. After this period, you must generate a new share code to prove that you are still awaiting a decision.
If your application is concluded, you are obliged to inform your employer about the outcome.
- If you are granted a status, you can generate a new share code to prove your right to work without time restrictions.
- If your application is refused, you will lose your right to work, unless you submit an appeal.
Some EEA nationals are facing problems when proving their status and right to work, according to a report by the3million, a grassroots organisation of EU citizens living in the UK. Some employers conduct right to work checks improperly by not accepting Share Codes, requesting a proof in PDF format, or requesting more than one proof of right to work. These practices are against the rules in the employer’s guide:
You cannot mandate how an individual proves their right to work. To ensure that you do not discriminate against anyone, you should provide every opportunity to enable an individual to prove their right to work.
The employer’s guide refers also to codes of standards and warns employers that they should not discriminate when conducting right to work checks:
You should not make assumptions about a person’s right to work in the UK or their immigration status on the basis of their colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, accent or the length of time they have been resident in the UK.
It also explains what you can do if you feel that you have been discriminated:
Anyone who believes that they have been discriminated against, either directly or indirectly, by an employer, a prospective employer or an employment agency, because of their race or a protected characteristic may bring a complaint before an Employment Tribunal, or an Industrial Tribunal in Northern Ireland. If the claim is upheld, the Tribunal will normally order the employer to pay compensation, for which there is no upper limit.
If you experience any technical problems with accessing your digital status, generating Share Code or any other problems with demonstrating your status, you can report it to the3million or make a complaint to the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements here.
For support with any problems with accessing and updating your status, or generating the share code, please contact us on immigration@citizensrightsproject.org.
This post was updated on 13th February 2025
