The eVisa rollout – what do employers need to do?

As you may be aware, the UK is moving to a fully digital immigration system from 1 January 2025. Some of your employees may already have received communication from the Home Office about this.

This article explains what action UK visa-holders must take to ensure they can access and properly evidence their UK immigration status from the start of next year. This is essential to ensure they can re-enter the UK if they travel, to prove their rights to work and rent and to access certain services in the UK.

What is changing?

The Home Office is replacing physical immigration documents such as biometric residence permits (BRPs) with digital electronic visas (eVisas).  Everyone who holds a BRP must ensure they have created a UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) account and accessed their eVisa before 1 January 2025.

Although all BRPs will expire on 31 December 2024, this does not affect the validity of the holder’s current permission to remain or Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).  It only affects the way in which they can view and prove their status from 1 January 2025.

If they have a BRP, they should continue to travel with both their passport and their BRP until 31 December 2024.

What do employers need to do?

We recommend you raise awareness of these changes amongst your staff and encourage any employees with UK visas to ensure they have set up their UKVI accounts and accessed their eVisas as soon as possible before the end of this year.

Once visa-holders have accessed their eVisa, they must ensure their UKVI account is linked to their current passport, as carriers will use that to check their immigration status against Home Office systems. Failure to link their account to their current passport may mean significant delays when travelling back to the UK or carriers refusing to allow them to board.

Do employers need to do right to work checks again?

Generally, no. The expiry date on an employee’s BRP is the expiry date of the card itself, not necessarily the expiry date of their permission to be in the UK. As long as you have complied with your right to work obligations and conducted full checks properly before the start of employment and repeat checks as needed then there is no need to carry out a further right to work check as a result of the BRP expiry.

However, if any of your right to work checks show a visa expiry date of 31 December 2024 as a result of checking a BRP then you should carry out a repeat online right to work check to ensure the employee’s correct visa end date has been recorded. Should you require further advice regarding right to work checks please do not hesitate to get in touch.

How can we help?

We have a range of bespoke services for employers to assist them in communicating this message and ensuring that employees are supported in navigating these changes. We can provide detailed written guidance for your staff, access to our UKVI account creation e-learning module or in-person surgeries for employees to complete the process in real time with a member of our team.

Please contact us or your usual Charles Russell Speechlys immigration contact and we will be delighted to discuss your needs.