Fee waiver rule changes from 8 October 2026: What employers need to know about Right to Work checks

While the changes are aimed at individuals not businesses, employers should understand the potential impact on an employee’s immigration status and, in turn, their right to work in the UK.

Fee waiver applications have become more prevalent in recent months due to the delays employers with Skilled Worker sponsor licences have been facing with applications for Certificates of Sponsorship.  These delays have often left employers and their sponsored workers in a situation where a CoS is not available to use in a Skilled Worker visa application and the sponsored worker therefore chooses to submit an application for a fee waiver to extend their right to work and ‘bridge the gap’ until a CoS is available.

What changed on 8 October?

UK Visas & Immigration is alive to the fact that the fee waiver regime is being used in this way and, although it was never strictly permitted, is putting a stop to it by updating the Immigration Rules.

For fee waivers made before 8 October 2026, the individual commonly followed it up with an application for a Skilled Worker visa (within the required timeframe) and the application would generally be treated as having been made on the date of the fee waiver request.

Under the clarified rules, the subsequent immigration application will only be treated as having been made on that date if the application is made on the same immigration route as the one identified in the fee waiver request.

The Skilled Worker visa is not an eligible application for a fee waiver request and so if an individual submits a fee waiver request, but subsequently applies under the Skilled Worker route, the ‘date of application’ will be treated as the date the Skilled Worker application was submitted, rather than the earlier fee waiver request date.

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How does this impact right to work?

This change is important because it may affect whether an individual benefits from “Section 3C leave”, which extends their right to work while an in-time fee waiver and subsequent in-time, valid visa application is pending.

If the employee loses the benefit of their ‘date of application’ being treated as the earlier fee waiver request date, and their previous Skilled Worker visa has expired, their right to work will have been lost on the date that their Skilled Worker visa expired.

For employers, this means there could be situations where a worker who previously appeared to have ongoing lawful status as a result of pending in-time applications, may no longer be covered if:

• Their visa expired while a fee waiver request was pending
• They subsequently submitted an application on a different immigration route

What should employers do?

Employers should:

• Continue to carry out right to work checks in line with Home Office guidance
• Avoid assuming that a pending fee waiver request automatically protects a worker’s right to work
• Obtain evidence of the type of visa application an employee has submitted when they are extending their right to work to consider if this was made on the same immigration route as the fee waiver request
• Where an employee’s right to work is based on a fee waiver request application, ensure that their original and any repeat right to work checks are compliant so that the business is protected from an illegal working penalty in the event that right to work is lost
• Use the Employer Checking Service to obtain a Positive Verification Notice or the online right to work check to confirm right to work
• Be prepared to move quickly to terminate employment (balancing employment law requirements) in the event that the employee ceases to have the right to work

If you have any questions, please get in touch with our immigration lawyers.