Immigration Act 2016 - Right to Work

From 1st December 2016, licensing authorities are required to check the immigration status and right to work of ALL those applying for taxi, private hire driver and operator licences.

From 6 April 2017, Licensing Authorities are required to check the immigration status and right to work of ALL those individual applicants applying for a Premises Licence and Personal Licence.

The new provisions mean that driver and operator licences, premises licences (for alcohol or late night refreshment) and personal licences  must not be issued to persons who are:

• Unlawfully present,
• not permitted to work, or
• permitted to work, but not this type of work.

The issue of a licence to a disqualified person is prohibited.

For all licence applications, individual applicants must satisfy the licensing authority that the applicant is not disqualified by their immigration status from holding a licence before the licence is issued. Each application made on or from this date will need to provide original supporting documentation as detailed on the application form for ALL new applicants and for subsequent first time renewals.

Acceptable right to work documents can be found on the Government's Right to Work checklist.

There is an online prove your right to work service for applicants to use.