What happens if an employee's work permit expires?

If an employee's work permit or time-limited right to work expires while they are still employed, continuing to employ them becomes illegal -- regardless of whether the employer was aware of the expiry. In the UK, employers face a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker under the Immigration Act 2014 (as amended), and criminal prosecution if the employer knew or had reasonable cause to believe the worker lacked permission. A statutory excuse (which reduces or eliminates the employer's liability) requires the employer to have checked and kept a copy of the relevant documents before employment started and at each follow-up check.

The only way to maintain the statutory excuse for a time-limited permission is to conduct a follow-up right-to-work check before the permission expires and keep a record of it. An employer who checked at hire but never checked again has no excuse once the permission lapses.