Employer Proof of ID request

Coraline

This is the law from UKBA regarding right to work in the UK:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk%2Fsitecontent%2Fdocuments%2Femployersandsponsors%2Fpreventingillegalworking%2Fcurrentguidanceandcodes%2Fsummary-guidance.pdf%3Fview%3DBinary&ei=ZRr4Udf_O6Kw0AX964HQCQ&usg=AFQjCNE0CuWog5F3kpXe-5uGJ8fKitBhqw&bvm=bv.49967636,d.d2k&cad=rja

dawn27

I take a copy of my passport and write across the whole page "Proof of right to work in the UK for (company) use only" so you cant easily just photocopy all the information.
The company by law must hold proof that they have checked your right to work in the UK if they dont they will get fined, and they have to check it annually.

bikebarbie

dawn27 wrote: »

I take a copy of my passport and write across the whole page "Proof of right to work in the UK for (company) use only" so you cant easily just photocopy all the information.
The company by law must hold proof that they have checked your right to work in the UK if they dont they will get fined, and they have to check it annually.

Great idea thanks :-)

tizerbelle

Forgot to say - they only need to check every 12 months if you do not have an ongoing right to work in the UK though. So if you can show you are a british citizen i.e. have a British passport then you only need to show them it once and that gives the employer the "statutory excuse" they need for the entire period of your employment.

Coraline

Look at the end of the day, if you're worried about your prospective employer having a copy of your passport (not to mention your DOB, NI number, address, bank account numbers, phone numbers, details of next of kin, etc.,) is that an employer you'd have trust in working for?

Proof of Identity is pretty standard, and I've worked in a several countries!

slenderkitten

i think the op is just concerned about how their personal information will be handled and treated, and rightly so. Is there anyway you could ask them how it will be stored; so that you have some assurance but you know as well as i do they could say anything.

Jarbuhu

Yes, you shouldn't worry about it though. As long as you are working for a legit company your items will be safe. Like others have said you have to show proof that you're allowed to work in the country, which is done to ensure that illegals aren't able to work.

LittleVoice

I know an employer who have asked to have a copy not only of the photopage of the passport but also the front cover!

Legally they don't have to keep a copy - but if there is something wrong it helps their defence if they have a copy of what, to a reasonable person, looks like a legitimate document.

tizerbelle

UKBA's own guidance document states that you have to take a copy of the front cover of passports!

See pages 11 and 87 of the full guidance for employers here

This_Year

They should take a copy of the front cover too as UKBA advise that a passport front cover is the hardest thing to be able to fake. Part of my job involved checking right to work documents and I have personally found at least 3 where the emblem on the front cover had been doctored and had to be investigated further.