Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to extend the deadline for registering for an e-Visa.

There is no deadline for registering for a UKVI account to access an eVisa. Most BRPs expire on 31 December and we encourage all BRP holders to create a UKVI account before their BRP expires. If a person has not created an account by 31 December 2024, they will still be able to do so in 2025, using their expired BRP if needed.

eVisas are a key part of our Border Transformation and have been successfully used by over 6 million people in recent years.

The rollout of eVisas does not affect a person’s immigration status. Even where someone has not yet created a UKVI account, their eVisa is already available and employers and landlords can digitally check a person’s right to work status using the ‘Check a job applicant’s right to work’ and ‘Check a tenant’s right to rent in England’ services.

It is not possible to provide accurate figures on the number of people who have failed to complete the UKVI account registration process. These failures can be due to a number of reasons, including the user choosing to pause the process. Similarly, it is not possible to identify the proportion of people who may have experienced technical difficulties with the eVisa system itself rather than for another reason.

There have been 441 complaints relating to eVisas received by our Customer Complaints Team between 28 August 2024 and 15 December 2024, which is the most recent reporting period available. This number refers to all complaints relating to eVisas rather than just in relation to registering for a UKVI account.

Over 3.1 million people, mostly with BRPs, have successfully made the transition to eVisas from March to November this year. There are still a proportion of customers who have not yet signed up, and we would strongly encourage them to do so. We publish monthly statistics on the number of people who have created a UKVI account, the latest edition of which can be found at Online immigration status (eVisa): UKVI account creation data - GOV.UK.