Following the Home Office’s announcement of a deadline of 31st December 2024 for non-EU immigrants to replace physical biometric residence permits (BRPs) with a digital eVisa, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) has sent a joint open letter sharing its concerns.
Co-signed by over 230 industry experts, including practitioners, advisers, frontline workers and experienced organisations, the letter shares five main concerns surrounding the eVisa rollout:
The letter shares that multiple issues have been raised with the Home Office repeatedly, however, these don’t appear to have been factored into what they call a “rushed roll-out of the transition to eVisas”.
Whilst reiterating these issues, the letter also suggests multiple recommendations to better support the rollout, including the creation of 24/7 helplines to engage with individuals and engage meaningfully through widespread communication strategies.
Following the 31st December 2024 deadline, eVisas are set to replace any BRPs in the UK. For an individual to access this, they will need to open a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) digital account.
Currently, there are no plans to support BRPs after 31st December 2024 – this deadline is facing major backlash and ILPA’s letter to the Home Office aims to target how a transition period can be utilised to ensure individuals don’t fall through the cracks.
Individuals who currently have BRP and live in the UK must open a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) digital account to access their eVisa.
A ‘phased launch’ was introduced in April 2024 to begin replacing physical documentation, however, some emails from the Home Office have been sent to solicitors instead of the individual in question.
The service aims to be made available to all BRP holders later in 2024, so if you haven’t yet received an email from the Home Office with further information, you should be able to open an account soon without an invitation.
If you’re worried about your BRP and digital eVisa, speak to our experts at Five Star for guidance and support to ensure you can continue to prove your status.
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