Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, regarding the transition to eVisas, what steps they are taking to ensure that individuals who miss an application deadline due to difficulties in accessing their digital status, will not lose their leave to remain or are otherwise penalised as a result.

As part of our move to a ‘digital by default’ border and immigration system, physical immigration documents are being replaced by fully digital eVisas (an online record of the person’s immigration status).

We understand some customers may feel apprehensive about transitioning to and navigating a digital system. We have already put a range of measures in place to support vulnerable and digitally excluded customers, including Assisted Digital support for account creation; ‘helper’ and ‘proxy’ roles who can assist with specific tasks or manage an account for the customer; and a dedicated contact centre that can help customers to access or recover their account, update their personal details or share immigration status information on their behalf if they are unable to do so.

In addition, we have a dedicated programme of grant funding, which will enable organisations to support vulnerable people, including those experiencing homelessness, to create UKVI accounts and accessing their eVisas. We expect these grant funded organisations to be operational by Autumn. Further details about the organisations will be published on gov.uk in due course.

We are working collaboratively with a range of third-party stakeholders who offer support to people requiring assistance in creating a UKVI account and accessing their eVisa. Information on accessing this support is available on gov.uk.

We will not curtail a person’s permission to stay in the UK if they fail to create a UKVI account before their BRP expires. For many, the end 2024 deadline will have no impact; most people don’t need to prove their immigration status on a day-to-day basis, and many of the checks performed will be unaffected by the expiry of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs). BRP holders will still be able to use the online right to work and rent services to prove their rights once their BRP expires – provided they still have valid status – although we will encourage them to register for a UKVI account to access those services instead. If a customer cannot create an account before their BRP expires at the end of 2024, they will still be able to create a UKVI account quickly and easily after that date, using their expired BRP if needed.

While we are encouraging people who were issued with older forms of evidence of immigration status, such as ink stamps in passports, to transition to eVisas, they will still be able to prove their rights as they do today, using their legacy documents where these are permitted. That will not change at the end of the year.

The No Time Limit (NTL) process is for people with historic (legacy) status who want to upgrade to a modern, digital product and take advantage of its benefits, as well as for those who have lost their BRP or whose BRP has expired. Currently, we give them a BRP at the end of the process, whereas in the future they will be issued an eVisa, which will streamline the process.

Requests for evidence in such cases are an opportunity for the person to show that their leave has not lapsed and are conducted in line with the existing published guidance. We apply a balance of probabilities approach and exercise discretion where appropriate. We will also continue to support customers, especially those who may be vulnerable, including via our Assisted Digital service which is available in the UK to provide individual support by phone and email to individuals who require assistance with IT-related aspects of transitioning to eVisas.

Further information about eVisas and future updates will be available at www.gov.uk/evisa.