Last Updated on December 5, 2024
Breaking Down the UK’s UKVI System and eVisa System
Welcome to Immigration and Mobility, Decoded—your go-to podcast for breaking down the latest immigration trends and updates. In this episode, host Erik Prado is joined by co-host Cecily Nelson and Antonio Lam, Director of Immigration, UK.
The team explores a significant shift in UK immigration policy: replacing physical visas with a fully digital UKVI system with a new electronic visa (eVisa) system. This change, part of the Home Office’s digital transformation plan, will take effect on 31 December 2024. After that, physical biometric residence permits (BRPs) will be phased out and replaced with digital records. The government’s goal is to simplify access to visa information for both applicants and employers.
The episode explores the broader impacts of the eVisa transition, how it affects both visa holders and employers and the timeline leading up to the complete digital shift. Stay tuned as we decode the future of UK immigration and discuss what this means for you and your organization.
Below is a lightly edited transcript of our recent podcast:
Immigration & Mobility Decoded
So, what is the news about the UK’s eVisa replacing physical visas? I’ve seen quite a bit of chatter about it on our website and LinkedIn.
Antonio Lam: Overview of the UK’s UKVI Visa System
No, absolutely. There’s a huge transformation project that’s been ongoing. Well, mind you, though, this transformation project has been ongoing for some time, and it’s now dawning on people that the 31st of December seems to be the relevant date for it. Essentially, it is part of a broader digital transformation system that the home office has been adopting for some time. As I’ve said, it’s the most upcoming changes that we are going to talk about. This step includes replacing physical documents, particularly biometric residence permits, with eRecords. And so, the UK is trying to drive away from physical documents, at least partly for now, into a much more digital format. So, it’s easier to track and trace; easier too for applicants to view their visas.
Immigration & Mobility Decoded
This has been in the works even before the current UK government came into power?
Antonio Lam: Launch of the UKVI System
Oh yes, yes, yes. It’s been there for some time. I can’t recall the exact date when the green paper came out, but I think it was probably almost a decade ago. And then this is all sort of part and parcel of pushing this through. I think the idea has been around for quite some time already. But the slow transformation, or the evolution we’ll call it, really started kicking off during Brexit.
European citizens who had to apply for European settlement scheme status at the time had already started using this process, and it sort of worked. And so, this is moving towards some non-visa nationals applying from within the UK having that E visa as well. And now, of course, it’s full-blown: everyone else who holds a biometric residence card can now apply and have this sort of eRecord in readiness for the new law.
Immigration & Mobility Decoded
I know this will probably seem like a very broad, maybe simple question, so I’ll ask you to take it where you take it, but why is this relevant?
Antonio Lam: UK’s Transition to a Digital Visa System
No, it is hugely relevant. And yes, it has to be a very broad question because most employers we speak to, even the employees of our clients, basically say, “Oh, I’m no longer a sponsored worker. For example, I’m not a skilled worker or a transferee. I have the BRP card, but do I need to do anything?”
The answer is yes because the digital transformation is not exclusive to those with a work visa. It applies to everyone who holds a permit residence permit, including those with indefinite needs to remain. So, many individuals with the same status for many years didn’t even think about needing an eVisa. It is important and relevant in the sense that they will want to have that permission because, on the 31st of December, if they hold a BRP card, it will no longer be valid.
Immigration & Mobility Decoded
In terms of timing, when will this change take place?
Antonio Lam: Biometric Residence Permit Changes
Yeah, so for all BRP cards, please renew the visa even if it expires on December 31st.
The eRecord is an entirely separate beast. It is transforming from the card to an eVisa or eRecord rather than your actual visa being renewed. So, if you need to renew your visa, make sure you renew it before or after, whichever may be the case.
But yes, absolutely right. All BRP cards effectively expire on the 31st of December 2024, and the digital record system effectively kicks into full fruition, so to speak, on the 1st of January 2025. We already have the eVisas for most people who apply from within the country, especially non-visa nationals or Europeans with a work permit. For example, they would probably already have an eVisa in the UK. But yeah, the full kickoff, when it all comes into play will be the 1st of January 2025.
Immigration & Mobility Decoded
You’ve been mentioning eVisas and BRP, so to cap off this round of questions, Antonio, can you explain the difference between a BRP and an eVisa?
Antonio Lam: UK Immigration Documents
Yeah, so you have many, many documents. I mean, whoever has fun reading the employer write-to-work check guidance would see a variety of different stickers, papers, cards and everything else in between that we all call a visa effectively. So BRP cards are visas, and visa stickers or vignettes are also visas, so to speak. These used to be the old stickers on the piece of paper, the immigration status document and the visa.
They’re all sort of in one, and we live in an age where several types of documents coexist rather together that we can use. But, let’s look back a bit at history. This is pre-2008 before the European regulations came in, and BRP cards were required, so to speak or introduced. We all had paper documents, card documents or stickers on our passports.
So that is something that we base it on. Since the introduction of BRP, some of the older versions of the visa, for example, some of the indefinite need to remain stickers, used to be a green little sticker on the passport, and you’re supposed to have that replaced with a new sticker and a new passport, that type of stuff.
Lam: The BRP Card History
That coexisted with our so-called BRP cards, which, because of the wide implementation of the BRP cards, we call the BRP cards the visa because, of course, the expiry date of the BRP card at the time reflected the expiry date of the actual visa itself. Now, of course, coming to 2015, then it became, everyone needs a BRP card, and now, in 2025, everybody needs an eVisa, and no doubt there will be some legacy expired BRP cards still going in circulation or in holding anyway.
The home office is very robust in saying that BRP content is a record of your visa’s status rather than calling them an eVisa. Really, a BRP is a record of your personal data: information held by the home office. I think that’s probably a much more accurate term now because your BRP card is not really your visa per se. After all, the expiration date is 31st of December, but that doesn’t always really reflect your true visa if it expires later than that date.
But yeah, it is all one of the same things. I would probably say it’s just a different variation of documents used over the years that have transformed. I guess the idea is to make the approach more uniform or a bit more consistent in terms of how these are read. But again, as I said, there will still be legacy stickers and new stickers being issued because the stickers will not be changed into visas until sometime in 2025, with no date confirmed. For now, we’ll continue to have this weird coexistence of many types of documents in the UK.
Immigration & Mobility Decoded
What do employers need to do to prepare for this relevant change?
Antonio Lam: Looking Ahead
It sounds quite odd to say, but it is not the employer’s responsibility to ensure that your employees have an account or register eVisa. An employer’s duty is to ensure that your employees have permission to work in the UK, which one would assume they would’ve done before employment started with any individual or have started with individuals. Nonetheless, a lot of employers, of course, care for and I really fully appreciate that of their employees and their wellbeing and make sure that they can travel and all of that.
So our advice is that employees should really develop a communication piece effectively and send it all to the visa holders or employees at large because you may not know whether they have fully what status it is to actually tell them about these types of things.
Content in this publication is for informational purposes only and not intended as legal advice, nor should it be relied on as such. For additional information on the issues discussed, consult an attorney at Corporate Immigration Partners, P.C., or another qualified professional of your choosing. On non-U.S. immigration issues, consult your Envoy representative, or another qualified representative of your choosing.
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