Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to publicise the ending of Biometric Residential Permits and transition to e-visas.

The Home Office is delivering a substantial communications and engagement campaign to advise customers of the transition to eVisas and the need for BRP holding customers to register for a UKVI account by the end of 2024, if they were not automatically provided with a UKVI account and eVisa when their most recent immigration application was approved.

This includes, but is not limited to, direct messaging to customers via email and text message where contact details are available, information on gov.uk/eVisa, and how-to videos available on YouTube and via gov.uk/eVisa. We have regular engagement with other government departments, immigration representatives, the education sector, employers, landlords, local authorities, foreign embassies, Home Office advisory groups, devolved administrations and migrant support organisations as part of the engagement process.

A 'partner pack’ of readily shareable content, including factsheets and social media content, has been developed and shared with other government departments and third party support networks which they can use to disseminate eVisa information to customers/clients with whom they engage. In April this year we issued a press notice about the transition to eVisa, and delivered detailed media briefings with UK and International media outlets.

For customers granted settlement (also known as indefinite leave to remain) prior to the introduction of BRPs, we have recommended through this campaign that they should make a No Time Limit application in order to secure an eVisa. Customers with these older forms of evidence of immigration status, such as ink stamps in passports, will still be able to prove their rights as they do today, using their legacy documents where these are permitted. However, we still encourage those individuals to transition to an eVisa, given the range of benefits it offers to customers and status checkers.