e-Visas Factsheet

The Problem

From 1 January 2025, people who have right to remain in the UK must have an e-Visas to apply for work, apply to use housing and other services, and to re-enter the UK. Other documents such as Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) will no longer be accepted.

Problems with the scheme include:

• Mismatched personal data and out-of date-decisions replacing current decisions.

• Resistance from the international carriers who will have responsibility for checking e-Visas from 1 January 2024.

• Confusion over the requirements for approximately 200,000 UK residents who have legacy documents proving their right to remain in the UK. To get an e-Visa, holders of legacy documents must provide evidence of continuing residence in the UK since being granted leave to remain.

• Biometric Residence Permits (BRP) will no longer be issued after 31 October 2024 but are needed to apply for an e-Visa. If paper documents can be used to prove immigration status, this information needs to be published (at least one Home Office official has contradicted this advice, saying they could be denied entry into the UK if they rely on these documents).

• Refugees with travel documents issued from the UK have been unable to link their travel documents to their e-Visa because of a mismatch between their nationality and the UK as the place of issue of their travel documents.

• There have been significant problems with the software systems. Some of these relate to the lack of a stored on-device record; any check relies on an active Internet connection. Others relate to data errors mentioned above.

How to solve the problem

The Home Office’s objection to allowing a digitally stored e-Visa, or a paper equivalent such as a printed QR code, is the result of the department’s desire to ensure that e-Visas can be rescinded rapidly, in a “digital hostile environment”. The Home Office accepts no liability for the ensuing problems.

The Home Office needs to explain:

• Whether people with legacy documents, such as stamps in passports, need to apply for an e-Visa;

• Whether and how people who have legacy documents will be able to use them to re-enter the UK after 1 January 2024;

• The application process for legacy document holders after 31 October 2024 when BRPs are no longer issued;

• If and how the Home Office will guarantee that the immigration status of legacy document holders will not change through the e-Visa application process, eg if they are unable to provide evidence of residence since being granted indefinite leave to remain;

• How refugees and others should seek resolution where they cannot link their travel document to their e-Visa as a result of their UK travel document not matching their nationality as the place of issue;

• How international travellers experiencing problems re-entering the UK as a result of failures with e-Visas can resolve these;

• Whether the Home Office will accept any liability for individuals being stranded overseas.

The Home Office should also:

• Publish the Data Protection Impact Assessment and the Equalities and Human Rights Impact Assessment for the e-Visa scheme and any mitigation plans they have;

In the New Year, the Home Office should provide means to:

• Digitally store an e-Visa on a device

• Provide a paper system e-Visa holders to allow third parties to access their e-Visa record, such as a QR code.