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PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly check a new employee's right to work documents.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ita colleague

What the alternative costsA purpose-built recruitment platform such as Manatal provides AI recruitment software for candidate scoring, enrichment and pipeline automation, but no price is provided here.

If this goes wrong: you employ someone without the required right to work or keep an inadequate record, and the employer carries the legal consequences.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the current right to work guidance on GOV.UK and identify whether the employee's check will use original documents or the Home Office online service.
    2. Ask the employee for the evidence required by that route, using the secure process your organisation normally uses and avoiding unnecessary copies or messages containing personal data.
    3. For an online check, open the Home Office employer checking service, enter the employee's share code and date of birth, and save the result showing the permitted work and any expiry or follow-up date.
    4. For a manual check, inspect the original documents in the required manner, compare the photograph and personal details with the person presenting them, and record any restrictions and expiry dates.
    5. Paste only redacted document types, dates, restrictions and discrepancies into the prompt, then ask AI to turn them into a checklist and audit record without deciding authenticity or eligibility.
    6. Compare every item in the AI checklist with the current GOV.UK guidance and your organisation's HR procedure, then ask an HR colleague or immigration solicitor about any mismatch, unclear status or suspected fraud.
    7. Complete and sign the employer's record, store the permitted evidence securely for the required retention period, and set a reminder for any follow-up check.

    Prompt

    I am carrying out a UK employer's right to work check for a new employee. Help me prepare a checklist and an audit record, but do not make the legal decision for me. Use only current GOV.UK or Home Office guidance that I provide or that you can quote with a link. Do not guess, rely on outdated rules, or treat an image as proof that a document is genuine. Ask me whether this is a manual document check or a Home Office online share-code check, then list the exact evidence I need to inspect, the points I need to compare, any work restrictions or expiry dates to record, and what I must retain. Tell me clearly which parts I must complete myself and flag anything that needs an immigration solicitor or employment lawyer. I will provide only redacted details: [check type], [document or permission type], [expiry or review date], [share-code result if applicable], and [any discrepancy]. Do not request or reproduce unnecessary passport numbers, National Insurance numbers, dates of birth, addresses, photographs or other personal data.

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot prove that a passport, permit or other document is genuine from an image or description.
  • AI cannot replace the employer's required identity comparison, online status check or record of the check.
  • AI cannot safely resolve unusual immigration status, work restrictions, expired evidence or conflicting documents without current official guidance and human judgement.
  • Uploading full identity documents to a general chatbot creates unnecessary privacy and security risk.
  • The employer remains liable if the check is incomplete or wrong, even when AI produced the checklist.

What caps this at PARTLY: legal accountability, verification cost and private data access.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output1
Inputs2
Verification1
Liability0
Effort delta1
Total5 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can AI verify an employee's right to work in the UK?
Not by itself. AI can organise the evidence and identify apparent gaps, but the employer must complete the required manual or Home Office online check and keep the record.
Can I upload a passport to ChatGPT to check it?
You should not upload an unredacted passport or other identity document to a general chatbot unless your organisation has approved that handling and assessed the privacy risk. Use official Home Office processes for the check and give AI only redacted details needed for a checklist.
What happens if an AI right to work check is wrong?
The employer still carries the consequences of employing someone without the required right to work or keeping an inadequate record. Not professional advice: a serious or unclear case needs an immigration solicitor or employment lawyer.
Can AI check a share code?
AI can help you record the result after you use the official Home Office employer checking service. It must not replace entering the share code into that service, checking the permitted work and dates, or saving the resulting evidence.

Nearby answers

All Onboarding rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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