‘Cliff edge’ deadline for UK digital visas still leaves 4m at risk of losing rights

London: The controversial rollout of digital visas for non-EU migrants has been delayed, but without any change to the “cliff edge” year-end deadline. This leaves more than 4 million UK residents facing a race against time to avoid effectively becoming undocumented migrants. Having said people would be able to apply to access the new “eVisas” from June, the Home Office is now advising that applications will open “later in 2024”.

Immigration lawyers have written to the Home Office expressing “great concern” at the delay as there has been no change to the 31 December deadline for the transition to eVisas.

“The new government has inherited chaos in the digital immigration system, amplified by the hostile environment and the carriers’ liability regime,” said Zoe Bantleman of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA). “To prevent a large-scale second Windrush scandal, the new home secretary has only five months to take urgent action before the biometric residence permits [BRPs] of 4 million people expire, leaving them undocumented.”

Biometric residence permits are given to all foreign nationals with permission to live in the UK for at least six months as proof of their immigration status and residency rights, but are being replaced with eVisas under the Home Office digitisation programme. More than 4 million non-EU migrants will need an eVisa by 31 December 2024. After that date, their BRPs will no longer be accepted as a proof of immigration status and residency rights.

Applications to access eVisas will be accepted in 2025, but as the change has barely been publicised, many people may not learn of the rule change until they suddenly find their BRP no longer proves their rights.

To access their eVisa, people first have to set up a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) digital account, which so far can be done only with on invitation from the Home Office. A trial this spring ran into problems when the department found it didn’t have all the contact details it needed.

The Home Office had intended that from June anyone could go online and open a UKVI account, leaving six months for about 4 million people to make the switch, a time frame some already feared was too tight.

“This apparent change to the Public Beta timeframe is of great concern as it places millions of people with extant leave in a state of uncertainty with no secure time frame as to when they might be able to transfer their immigration status online, despite the self-imposed impending BRP expiry date of 31 December 2024,” Bantleman wrote on behalf of ILPA in a letter to Home Office officials at the start of this month. ILPA still hasn’t received a reply, and the government has given no explanation for the delay.

“To be certain they can travel over the winter holidays and return in the new year, millions of people will need to create an account to obtain access to their eVisa, ensure there are no errors or glitches in their status, and check that the Home Office has their up-to-date passport or travel document details,” Bantleman told the Observer.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This is a phased launch that will mark a step towards replacing physical immigration documents with eVisas by 2025, and a key part of the transformation and digitisation of the UK’s border and immigration system.”