They don't need a warrant
Immigration Enforcement at Licensed Premises
This guidance covers England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate licensing regimes.
Immigration Enforcement visited restaurants, takeaways and cafes 3,559 times in 2025. More than any other sector, with food retail a distant second. Those visits produced 2,523 arrests. Across all sectors, 2025 also saw more than 2,400 civil penalties issued, totalling over £130 million.
If your premises has an alcohol licence, a visit is easier for officers to make, and its consequences reach further: the same finding that produces a civil penalty can also end up before a licensing committee.
The section 179 right of entry
Section 179 of the Licensing Act 2003 gives immigration officers a statutory right of entry to premises being used to sell alcohol or late-night refreshment. No appointment. No advance notice. Officers use it where they believe illegal working is happening on the premises. They do not need a warrant to act on that belief, and there is nothing to consent to or refuse.
The power was originally written for constables and licensing officers. The Immigration Act 2016 amended it to add immigration officers. The practical effect: any pub, bar, restaurant, hotel, or nightclub with an alcohol licence is a premises that immigration officers can enter during licensable activity.
Obstruction is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine up to level 3 on the standard scale.
What officers do when they arrive
They identify themselves, show warrant cards, and start looking at your staff. The enforcement visits guidance says officers should be professional and courteous. In practice, a visit may involve questioning workers about their immigration status, inspecting employment records, and checking whether right-to-work documents are on file and up to date.
They are looking for people working without immigration permission, and at whether you conducted the prescribed checks. If you did the check correctly before the worker started, you have a statutory excuse and cannot be given a civil penalty for that worker, even if they turn out to have no right to work. Did it late, did it wrong, or didn't do it at all: the penalty exposure is yours.
Officers expect right-to-work records to be accessible during the visit. Records held at head office or on a manager's home laptop cannot be produced in the moment. The Home Office gives you a chance to supply evidence after the visit, but some premises licences require copies to be available on demand, and an empty file on the day is the worst possible starting position.
The civil penalty
Civil penalties start at £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach within three years. Those are starting points before mitigation. Knowingly employing an illegal worker is a criminal offence carrying up to five years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
Even at that scale, a penalty is something a business can pay and carry on from. Royal China Restaurant in London took its first Immigration Enforcement visit in October 2018: officers found nine illegal workers, and the civil penalty was £80,000. A second visit in May 2019 found two more workers and brought £30,000. A third, in May 2024, found another nine and drew £360,000. Twenty illegal workers and £470,000 in civil penalties across six years, and the restaurant was still trading.
The licence review
The Home Office is a "responsible authority" under the Licensing Act 2003. That gives it standing to apply for a review of your premises licence at any time, on the grounds that the licensing objectives are being undermined.
A licence review is not a fine you pay and move on from. The licensing sub-committee can modify your conditions, remove your Designated Premises Supervisor, suspend your licence for up to three months, or revoke it entirely. The section 182 guidance makes clear there is no fixed escalation ladder where illegal working is involved. A single serious finding can go straight to revocation if the committee decides the licensing objectives require it.
The enforcement sequence for a licensed premises looks like this: immigration officers enter under s.179, find illegal workers, issue civil penalties under immigration law, and can then separately refer the matter to the licensing authority for a premises licence review under the Licensing Act. The Home Office takes a stepped approach to that referral: a first finding with one or two illegal workers normally draws a warning letter, while three or more workers, repeat findings, or unpaid penalties can prompt a review application.
After Royal China's third visit, the Home Office asked Westminster City Council to revoke the licence. The sub-committee heard the review in August 2024 and agreed.
A civil penalty has a number on it. A licence review decides whether the premises keeps trading.
| Date | Event | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 2018 | First Immigration Enforcement visit, nine illegal workers | £80,000 civil penalty |
| 9 May 2019 | Second visit, two illegal workers | £30,000 civil penalty |
| 10 May 2024 | Third visit, nine illegal workers | £360,000 civil penalty |
| 15 Aug 2024 | Premises licence review heard by Westminster's licensing sub-committee | Decision to revoke the licence |
Licence conditions can make it worse
Some premises licences already include conditions requiring right-to-work checks for all staff and requiring copies to be held at the premises or accessible on demand. If your licence has those conditions and you aren't meeting them, you're in breach of your licence conditions independently of any immigration finding. That breach is itself grounds for review, and it is an offence under the Licensing Act to operate in breach of conditions.
The cross-domain problem
Most compliance advice treats employment law and licensing law as separate domains. They are separate legal regimes, enforced by different bodies, with different sanctions. But for a licensed premises, they converge on the same set of facts. A missing right-to-work file is simultaneously an immigration compliance failure (civil penalty), a potential criminal offence (if you knew), and a licensing compliance failure (if conditions require it or the licensing objectives are undermined).
Right-to-work checks tend to get filed as an HR task and licensing compliance as an operational one. At a licensed premises they are the same file: right-to-work records, accessible on site, for every person who works there. The briefing on right-to-work checks covers the prescribed check, the document lists, follow-up check mechanics, and common mistakes.
This briefing is based on sources available at publication and is for general information only. It doesn't constitute legal advice. For advice on your specific situation, consult a qualified professional.
Produce the record when you're asked, not a week later.
Duty Room helps operators and their HR adviser stay aligned on right-to-work checks, working time records, tipping allocations, and policy renewals across each site.