Webinar
Immigration rules – conducting right to work checks and navigating upcoming changes
When: 11am BST, Thursday, 18 September 2025
Duration: 60 minutes
As the political focus on immigration intensifies, so too does the Home Office crackdown on illegal working. The first quarter of 2025 saw an 81% increase in civil penalties issued compared to the same period last year, with fines starting at £45,000 per employee for a first offence and rising to £60,000 for subsequent offences.
Many of these penalties are issued to well-intentioned employers that inadvertently fall foul of increasingly complex rules. Right to work requirements may vary depending on an employee’s immigration status, nationality and start date.
In this webinar, Annabel Mace, partner and head of immigration, and May Cheung, director, from Squire Patton Boggs’ business immigration team, will provide essential guidance on conducting right to work checks and common pitfalls. It will also consider how the proposed expansion of right to work checks to cover workers and self-employed contractors will impact employers.
This 60-minute webinar includes a Q&A session. To submit your questions in advance, register today.
Sign up to secure your spot
When: 11am BST, 18 September 2025
Duration: 60 minutes
More about our contributors
Annabel Mace
Partner and Head of Immigration
Annabel Mace is a partner in Squire Patton Boggs‘ Labour & Employment practice group and heads up the UK business immigration team.
She has more than 20 years’ experience advising businesses across a range of sectors on all aspects of business immigration and employment law. She has in-depth expertise in the Home Office’s Points Based System, particularly in relation to compliance issues arising out of maintaining sponsor licences.
She regularly advises clients on complex matters where there is an immigration/employment overlap including: the immigration implications of mergers, acquisitions and business restructures; reinstatement of sponsor licences where they have been suspended or revoked; illegal-working allegations where civil penalties are threatened by the Home Office; C-suite hires and departures, including urgent visas and immigration-related challenges of a sensitive nature; visa curtailments; cross-border projects and international assignments, including overseas remote working; discrimination risks relating to employer policies of non-sponsorship.
May Cheung
Director, Squire Patton Boggs’ Business Immigration Team
May Cheung is a director at Squire Patton Boggs and she specialises in UK business immigration law.
May advises organisations on a broad range of UK immigration visas including: skilled worker and global business mobility routes; UK expansion worker licences for those establishing in the UK; and temporary worker options for short term work. She regularly delivers training and webinars on sponsorship compliance and the prevention of illegal working issues. May also advises companies on complex restructures that affect their sponsored employees, helping organisations to stay compliant with immigration obligations.
May has a particular interest in immigration law changes and regularly contributes to the Migration Advisory Committee’s consultations and liaises with the Home Office policy teams to ensure that the law remains practical and relevant to organisations.
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