The Home Office is implementing a transition towards the use of digital status by the end of 2024. After 31 December, most people will only be able to demonstrate their immigration status and entitlements through an eVisa which they can access online by logging into their UKVI account, as the Home Office will no longer be issuing physical status documents like biometric residence permits (BRP).
An eVisa is an online record of a person’s immigration status and any conditions attached to it. It can be used to prove status, rights, and entitlements in the UK. It is linked to a person’s passport on Home Office systems, enabling them to travel and enter and re-enter the UK using only their travel document.
A person may currently hold one of the following documents to evidence their immigration status - a biometric residence permit, biometric residence card, or a visa endorsement known as a vignette (sticker) which is usually stamped into a person’s passport upon entry into the UK. These physical status documents are often used by a person to evidence their status in the UK and demonstrate their right to access services. The Home Office will cease issuing BRPs before the end of the year and will implement measures to enable people without a relevant ID document, such as a BRP or passport, to create a UKVI account in their absence. Meanwhile, vignettes are to be fully phased out by 2025, while ARC cards for asylum seekers will continue to be issued. Going forward, everyone will be issued with an eVisa in the first instance, when granted leave to remain, with physical status documents no longer provided.
Some people already have digital status, such as those granted EUSS leave under the EU Settlement Scheme. People who possess digital status can generate a shared code online to demonstrate their right to work or right to rent as part of employment and housing checks. Local authorities subscribing to NRPF Connect can also look-up digital status using the recourse to public funds checker.
Creating an eVisa account
The process for obtaining an eVisa requires that individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain and who possess physical status documents evidencing their permission to stay in the UK, register online and create a UKVI account to start the process. The Home Office will then issue them an eVisa. People must complete this registration process by 31 December 2024.
The Home Office has produced several resources to support people and organisations prepare for this transition, such as by producing online video guides, publishing guidance, and holding engagement sessions with stakeholders like local councils. Up to £4m in grant funding has also been made available to organisations to support people with registering for an eVisa. The full list of grant funded organisations is available online.
What councils must do to prepare for these changes
Local authority social care services will need to be aware of the upcoming changes to this process and support children, care leavers, families and adults receiving care and support and their carers who might be affected to register for a UKVI account and obtain an eVisa before the end of 2024.
Councils must identify anyone under their care who may be impacted, such as those in the UK with a grant of leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain. Social care teams can do this by checking documents for anyone they are supporting and signposting them to the Home Office website for further information on the process. NRPF Connect users will have regard for the immigration information given by the Home Office about a person’s immigration status and they can use the ‘recourse to public funds checker’ to see whether any status held is also reflected as a digital immigration status. Social workers could also identify people by speaking to a person’s immigration adviser, where they have one, about whether the person needs to register.
Similarly, homelessness services working with rough sleepers must also identify relevant people who may be at increased risk of failing to register for digital status in time and provide them with information and support to complete this process.
Where people are in receipt of benefits, it may be advisable that they check that the Department for Work and Pensions have the correct expiry dates for their leave to remain recorded, in order to avoid any issues should there be a delay in obtaining an eVisa.
Frontline council services assessing housing or homelessness applications will also need to be familiar with this new status format. Staff will need to be trained and fully able to check someone’s immigration status, and rights and entitlements online via their eVisa. While NRPF Connect users can still use the Recourse to Public Funds Checker function to instantly check with the Home Office a person’s immigration status and whether they have access to public funds, being familiar with digital status will become essential for all frontline services where eligibility for a service is affected by immigration status.
Councils may also need to consider how well these developments reach the wider community and whether there is a need to provide information and support in the community to ensure residents are aware of the changes and are proactive in securing their own evidence of status where required. One way councils can do this is by making sure the Home Office resources, including posters and videos, are being shared with the local community groups, schools, public services, and any other services support the community.
Possible implications of eVisa roll out.
The absence of physical status documents to prove rights and entitlements may create new challenges for some people when accessing services, with a strong possibility that, in some instances, people could be wrongly denied access to their rights. Although, one advantage of the eVisa roll-out is that there is no longer a risk of people losing physical documentation, which may make it easier to evidence rights held.
People could experience issues in accessing employment, which ultimately would leave them, especially those who cannot access the safety net of the benefits system, in a precarious financial position. It is therefore particularly important that organisations, employers, councils, and individuals themselves are all aware of the new system and how immigration status will be demonstrated going forward, as this will help mitigate any potential risks.
Those who face additional barriers engaging with the registration process are at particular risk of failing to obtain their digital status in-time for transition. Vulnerable groups include rough sleepers, people with limited or no English, and those with mental or physical health problems who are not supported by local authority social care services. Individuals who have lost physical status documents or are not engaged with statutory or voluntary services, may be more susceptible to missing the deadline to register for their eVisa, and thus be left without evidence of their immigration status and rights in the UK. Therefore, it is essential that councils take proactive steps to raise awareness of the eVisa rollout to ensure that affected residents, particularly those currently receiving direct support, are not adversely affected.