Work Abroad Check

Use this when someone shares, or describes, a job offer, a recruiter's message or a visa offer for work abroad (for example in the UK, Canada, the US, the Gulf, Europe or Asia) and wants to know whether it could be a scam. It returns the warning signs of recruitment and visa fraud that the governments concerned describe for an offer of that kind and place (such as paying for a certificate of sponsorship, a fee to be given the job, a UK care-worker visa from abroad, a "guaranteed" visa or a green card lottery "win"), GOV.UK's own list of warning signs, who pays what, the checks to make and where to report, each with its source, so that the offer can be compared with them. It does not judge the message itself. Do not use it to tell someone an offer is genuine or safe, for jobs in their own country, or as legal advice on a visa case. Leave passport, ID and bank numbers out of the message.

Use this when someone wants to check whether a UK employer named in a job offer holds a licence to sponsor workers from abroad, on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors as published on GOV.UK today. It returns the organisations whose name matches, with their town, rating and the routes they may sponsor, and what the rating means. Do not use it as proof that a job offer is real (a real employer's name can be used by someone else), for employers outside the UK, or to check a recruitment agency, which need not be on the register itself.

Use this when someone asks what a route to work abroad needs: the UK Skilled Worker visa (sponsor, salary, English level, the costs paid to the government and the ones the employer must pay), the Health and Care Worker visa for doctors, nurses and health professionals, whether a UK care-worker visa is open to people abroad, the English test scores to join the UK nursing register, Canada's Federal Skilled Worker Program, or the US Diversity Visa ("green card lottery"). It returns the requirements as each government publishes them, each with its source and the date it was read. Do not use it for other routes or countries, to decide whether a particular person is eligible, or as legal advice: rules change, and the government's page decides.

Use this when someone asks where to report a fake job or visa offer, a recruitment agency that took money, or trafficking, or how to check that a recruitment agency is licensed, in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa or Zimbabwe, or in the UK, Canada or the US. It returns the channels each government body publishes, with the source. Do not use it for other countries, and do not suggest that money will be recovered.