When the actual duties are lawfully permitted and effective immigration work authorization is in place. Review the first task, not merely the date the employer calls the full pharmacist start. A pending process does not create a universal interim permission.
Confirm the transition before expanding services
Set a check before the employer adds dispensing or another regulated activity. Verify the actual permission received and any conditions. Keep the job description consistent with the work after the transition, rather than leaving the initial restrictions as a stale record.
Two dates govern, and neither implies the other. The first sits on the admission record: the class of admission, and the date from which the stay is authorised. The second sits on the licensing body’s letter: the effective date of whatever status it grants, which may fall later than the date of the letter itself and may carry conditions that expire.
Work begins when both are satisfied, which in practice means the later of the two. Build the diary from those documents rather than from the start date printed in the offer, and set a reminder a fortnight before any condition lapses. Hypothetical example: a licensing letter permits non-clinical technical duties until a stated review date; the employer’s roster adds clinical work the week after that date passes, with nothing on file showing the review was completed.
That failure is foreseeable, and the calendar is where it gets caught.