International Relocation Documents Checklist: Validate the File

This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Regulatory references are accurate as of 4 October 2026 and describe the United Kingdom unless stated. Immigration rules change often: confirm against the official source before acting on an individual file.

An international relocation documents checklist lists the papers an employer must collect and check before an employee starts work in a new country: identity, permission to live and work, the employment contract and proof of qualifications. Collecting them is the easy half. Each document must be valid on the start date, issued by the right body, and consistent with the others. This guide gives the checklist, the validation logic, and what changes between the UK, the EU and the US.

What belongs in an expatriate file?

An expatriate file has four core blocks (identity, residence and work permission, contract, qualifications) plus a fifth for local registration. The table below is a starting point to adapt to the destination country.

Ask only for what the role and the law justify. The Information Commissioner's Office applies UK GDPR data minimisation to employment records, and the EU GDPR principle in Article 5(1)(c) is the same. Keep the evidence of the check (what was seen, when, by whom) rather than every scan.

How do you validate each document?

Validation is three checks: completeness, validity on the start date, and cross-document consistency. Completeness means every page and field is present and readable. Validity means dates, issuer and format are acceptable on the day the person starts. Consistency means the same name, date of birth and employer appear everywhere they should.

Most delays come from the third check. A passport reads "Oluwaseun Adeyemi-Clarke", the diploma says "O. Adeyemi", the contract omits the hyphen. None of this is fraud, but each gap needs a person to decide before the permit application or the first payroll run, not after a rejection. A validation step compares fields and dates and flags the differences. It does not prove a document is authentic; it tells the reviewer where to look.

Our platform supports more than 3,200 document types and OCR in 24 languages across 32 jurisdictions, so the same comparison logic applies to a Brazilian passport, a German degree and a UK eVisa share code. HR teams can see how this works on the HR solution page.

United Kingdom: right to work, sponsorship and eVisas

UK employers must check the right to work before the employee starts, and a statutory excuse against civil penalties exists only if the check was done correctly. The official employer guide on right to work checks describes three routes: a manual check of original documents for British and Irish citizens, an online check using the person's share code, and an identity service provider check for British and Irish passports. Biometric residence permits and cards stopped being accepted as proof from 1 January 2025, so most non-UK nationals now prove status through their eVisa and a share code.

As of October 2026, the civil penalty is up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 for repeat breaches, according to GOV.UK guidance on penalties. Check the current figures before relying on them, as the Home Office has been raising enforcement.

For sponsored workers the file also needs the Certificate of Sponsorship. Its reference, job title, salary and start date must match the contract and the visa. The employer's duties as a sponsor are set out in the sponsor guidance. Record any change of duties or pay that could affect the sponsorship conditions.

EU and US: the same blocks, different formalities

Each destination country sets the filing that must happen before or just after arrival, and that filing decides which documents you need.

• France. The employer checks the permit with the prefecture before hiring, and files the DPAE with Urssaf. See the Urssaf page on the DPAE.
• Germany. Under section 4a of the Residence Act, the employer must keep a copy of the residence title for the duration of employment. The title must authorise the specific job.
• Posted workers in the EU. An A1 certificate under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 shows which country's social security applies, and must be in the file for a secondment.
• United States. Employers complete Form I-9 within three business days of the start date. The employee chooses which acceptable documents to present from the USCIS list; the employer must not ask for specific ones.

How do you check a foreign diploma?

A foreign degree is checked in two steps: confirm that the institution issued it, then establish what level it equals in the destination country. The first step can mean a request to the university or a recognised verification service. The second is a comparability statement. In the UK, UK ENIC issues Statements of Comparability against the national framework. In Germany, the anabin database and the Recognition in Germany portal cover foreign qualifications. In France, ENIC-NARIC France issues a comparability certificate.

Hague Convention apostilles replace consular legalisation between the 120-odd member states. A translation by a sworn or certified translator is often needed too. Our guide to HR diploma and right-to-work verification covers the credential check in more detail, and the new hire document checklist covers the local-hire baseline that an expatriate file builds on.

What do HR teams and expats ask most?

The recurring questions are about order of operations, name mismatches and deadlines. Expats and HR teams on public forums tend to ask the same things. Can the person start before the visa is stamped? What if the surname differs between passport and degree? Who pays for the apostille and how long does it take?

The short answers: no, if the law requires the check before work begins; submit a name-variation note with the file and let the reviewer approve it before the permit application; and the employer usually pays under the relocation policy, but allow several weeks for apostilles and translations because they sit on the critical path.

A last practical point concerns order. A PDF checklist does not enforce sequence or dates. A digital file that validates each item on upload and flags permits expiring within 60 days is easier to defend in an audit. For the wider map of industry file types, see the industry verification pillar guide, and for storage of personal data see the security page.

To run these checks on your own relocation files, start from the CheckFile solution for HR teams, which compares fields, dates and registers across the documents in a file, or see the pricing page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What documents do I need to relocate an employee abroad?

You need proof of identity, a visa or residence permit that allows this job, the signed contract or assignment letter, and qualifications where the role or visa requires them. Add the local tax and social security identifiers and bank details for payroll.

How long before the start date should the file be validated?

Complete the legal checks before the first day, and start the diploma recognition and apostille steps as early as possible because they often take weeks. Re-check the permit expiry date 60 days before it ends.

Does a UK employer need to see the original of an eVisa?

No. For most non-UK nationals the employer runs an online check with a share code on the Home Office service and keeps a dated copy of the result. A manual check of originals applies only to British and Irish citizens.

Does validating a document prove it is genuine?

No. Validation compares dates, formats and fields across documents and against reference data, and highlights inconsistencies for a person to review. It complements the legally required check and does not replace it.

Is the checklist different for a short secondment?

The blocks are the same, but a secondment adds the assignment letter and an A1 certificate or equivalent social security document. Work permission rules also differ by country, so build the checklist by place of work.