Help!

[Fabcat]

Hi, first time poster!

My work has asked to see my passport (along with all my none UK colleagues) as they are reveiwing the rights to work of all staff. I've worked there for 10 years now.

I have Indefinite Leave stamped on my US passport in the Visa section, and have lived in the UK for most of my life (my mum is UK, my father american). I've since married a UK citizen and have a child who is a UK passport holder....

OK, end of life story and on the question! AM I ok to work here? Need I worry? I hear its my employers responsibility to organise my work permits? Do they need one if I've indefinite leave? HELP!

[Twin]

Hi, first time poster!

My work has asked to see my passport (along with all my none UK colleagues) as they are reveiwing the rights to work of all staff. I've worked there for 10 years now.

I have Indefinite Leave stamped on my US passport in the Visa section, and have lived in the UK for most of my life (my mum is UK, my father american). I've since married a UK citizen and have a child who is a UK passport holder....

OK, end of life story and on the question! AM I ok to work here? Need I worry? I hear its my employers responsibility to organise my work permits? Do they need one if I've indefinite leave? HELP!

No, seriously now.

Are you kidding?

You not only have indefinite leave to remain, but your mum is British, your wife and kids also and you ask if you are allowed to work?

If not for formalities, you are more or less British mate!

Indefinite leave means exactly what it says and that is you can live in this country for as long as you live. You have no restrictions to work or to the welfare state! You can do virtually anything a British citizen can do except of course you might need visas for some countries.

To answer your questions directly: You have the right to work. You are not illegal and you do not require a work permit. You are alright!

[Fabcat]

I know I know, the questions may seem stupid, but you've really put my mind at rest! So thank you, sincerely.

You hear so much in the news about people being deported after living in the UK for so long and being married too.

You're a star.

[vinny]

Indefinite leave to enter or remain, exemption from imigration control, or no time limit on a person’s stay in the United Kingdom

Any individual who is granted indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK, who is exempted from immigration control, or who has no time limit on their stay here may stay and work in the UK as long as they like. There are no immigration restrictions placed on the type of job you may offer them.

[JAJ]

Hi, first time poster!

My work has asked to see my passport (along with all my none UK colleagues) as they are reveiwing the rights to work of all staff. I've worked there for 10 years now.

I have Indefinite Leave stamped on my US passport in the Visa section, and have lived in the UK for most of my life (my mum is UK, my father american). I've since married a UK citizen and have a child who is a UK passport holder....

OK, end of life story and on the question! AM I ok to work here? Need I worry? I hear its my employers responsibility to organise my work permits? Do they need one if I've indefinite leave? HELP!

Indefinite leave to remain is the equivalent of a "Green Card" in the United States, so of course you have the right to work and your employer should have no problem with this.

BUT - have you considered becoming a British citizen, either by naturalisation (residence in the U.K.) or descent (through your mother, if you were born on or after 8 Feb 1961).

And your child - does he or she have an American passport as well as a British one?

[sakura]

Hi, first time poster!

My work has asked to see my passport (along with all my none UK colleagues) as they are reveiwing the rights to work of all staff. I've worked there for 10 years now.

I have Indefinite Leave stamped on my US passport in the Visa section, and have lived in the UK for most of my life (my mum is UK, my father american). I've since married a UK citizen and have a child who is a UK passport holder....

OK, end of life story and on the question! AM I ok to work here? Need I worry? I hear its my employers responsibility to organise my work permits? Do they need one if I've indefinite leave? HELP!

Are you sure you're not already a British citizen by descent, through your mother?

Also, shouldn't the company also check British/EU citizens too? It may be obvious that they are entitled to work here, but who knows what they might discover...I thought employers were supposed to check all employees, not just 'foreign/non-EU ones.

[JAJ]

Are you sure you're not already a British citizen by descent, through your mother?

Only if she was born in 1983 or later, and generally only if mother was born or naturalised in the U.K.

[John]

My work has asked to see my passport (along with all my none UK colleagues)

Interesting! How do they know which colleagues are British unless they ask for evidence from them as well? They are not just going to take their word for it, surely!

The fact is that the employer must ask for evidence from all employees, otherwise they may be lacking the Statutory Excuse they seek, if they are ever accused of employing illegal workers.

Not only that, their actions are discriminatory, and the guidance from the Home Office makes it very clear that employers cannot discriminate when dealing with this law.

[Frontier Mole]

I totally agree with John.

The number of companies that are singling out employees to ask for right to work details is amazing. Some of the very biggest firms are doing it! I have heard all sorts of excuses - risk based profiling was the most interesting.

If a business is going to perform these checks as it should, it should do so across the whole work force. Some "very British" people are not British at all as some firms are finding out. Not wanting to point the finger but there are a lot of people with British birth certificates who have obstensively been treated as British when if fact they have no status in the UK. Emploers are waking up to that fact, waving a UK birth cert was considered good enough in the past - not any more.