Foreign residents of the UK no longer get a residence permit. The Home Office, which is responsible for migration, instead provides access to an online eVisa. Almost all physical residence permits had an expiry date on or before 31 December 2024, although they are still valid for some purposes for an additional 18 months.

What is an eVisa?

An eVisa is a digital record of a person’s immigration status. It can be viewed online and accessed by people and organisations who need to check someone’s legal residence, such as:

UK Visas and Immigration, the part of the Home Office responsible for this project, says eVisas cannot be lost or stolen and are easier for holders to update, among other benefits.

Millions of people have been given eVisas without having to specifically register. In particular, EU citizens who secured post-Brexit residence rights received an eVisa (although it was not called this at the time) and no physical permit.

But many existing residents need to sign up for an eVisa or they will not have access to one. This includes people with permanent residence (indefinite leave to remain) who did not expect to have to interact with the immigration system again. As of April 2025, an estimated 300,000 UK residents had not set up their eVisa.

Why does this matter to MPs and their constituents?

Migrants often need to prove that they have immigration permission when seeking employment, housing, healthcare and welfare benefits. Carriers, such as airlines, also require proof of immigration permission (or exemption) before taking someone to the UK. Lacking this proof can therefore cause inconvenience or major hardship, as with the Windrush scandal.

People may struggle to provide proof of their status if they fail to set up their UKVI account, or if they do set it up but there are technical glitches with the system.

How do constituents get access to their eVisa?

By creating a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account online, in most cases. Step-by-step guides are available on YouTube, both from the Home Office itself and reputable law firms. Creating an account is free.

Until August 2024, the Home Office advised people not to try to access their eVisa unless they had received an individual email invitation. This is no longer the case and people can sign up for their eVisa now, whether or not they have been invited to.

Someone who does not have a right to remain in the UK will be unable to get an eVisa unless they secure immigration status, which is a separate application process.

Can expired residence permits still be used for travel to the UK? 

No. The Home Office did allow people with expired permits to use them for travel during a transitional period beyond 31 December 2024. This was initially until 31 March 2025, later extended to 1 June 2025, but there has been no further extension.

Does this also affect people with ‘biometric residence cards’, as well as biometric residence permits?

Yes. There is separate information available for people with BRCs, which were issued to non-EU citizens with immigration permission deriving from EU law.

What about people with permanent residence in an expired passport?

Some longstanding residents of the UK secured permanent residence rights before residence permits were introduced. Their proof of these rights would be a sticker or stamp in an old passport.

Replacing this paper document with an eVisa is not compulsory as such, but the Home Office is encouraging people to do so. People in this position cannot simply set up a UKVI account; there is a separate process known as a ‘no time limit’ application.

Until late 2024, people making a no time limit application needed to include documents showing their travel or residence history, to prove that their permanent residence had not lapsed due to absences from the UK. The Home Office no longer requires this unless its own records indicate that the person has been out of the country for more than two continuous years at some point.

Can people download and store their eVisa on a phone or computer?

No. The eVisa is an online record rather than the digital equivalent of a permit. Organisations with concerns about the system, such as Open Rights Group, think this is unsatisfactory. the3million, which represents EU citizens, says people should be issued with something more like a QR code instead.

Have eVisas replaced visa stickers for initial travel to the UK as well?

For some people, yes. People moving to the UK who applied using a mobile phone app are only getting an eVisa. Those who had to attend a visa application centre, or who are only getting a visa to visit the UK rather than to move here, continue to get a visa stuck into their passport (‘entry clearance vignettes’).

People moving to the UK who get a vignette for their initial entry can sign up for their eVisa after they have arrived (just as they would previously have collected a physical residence permit).

In December 2024, the Home Office said it planned to phase out entry clearance vignettes “over the next year” (PDF). The ultimate goal is that “successful applicants to all immigration routes [will be] provided with an account automatically at the point they are granted status”.

Are other countries abolishing physical immigration documents?

While many countries are moving toward more digital proof of immigration status, at time of writing there was no other known example of a country entirely ceasing to issue both physical entry visas and residence permits, according to the international immigration law firm Fragomen.

What if constituents struggle to access their eVisa or experience technical glitches?

The government has highlighted some support measures, such as the Assisted Digital service to help people who do not feel confident using a computer. It has also given grants to charities so that they can assist particularly vulnerable groups, such as disabled people or domestic abuse victims.

Helping someone else with their eVisa does not amount to providing immigration advice or services (which is a criminal offence if done by someone without a licence), according to the Immigration Services Commissioner. This means that a charity worker, for example, could help someone with an eVisa so long as they do not stray into advice on immigration status. Right to Remain has published a guide on How to support someone with the transition to eVisas.

People having problems, including errors such as an incorrect name or visa type showing up on their account, can try:

Someone being incorrectly denied boarding onto a flight to the UK could ask the airline to call the Home Office’s 24/7 Carrier Support Hub. The immigration minister has also suggested that bringing a printout of their eVisa page could be helpful; by the same token, taking a screenshot before travel might also be advisable.

What happens to people who fail to get their eVisa?

People with expired biometric residence permits

Old permits can still be used to set up an eVisa. In addition, the Home Office extended the validity of permits into 2025 as a transitional measure:

  • Within the UK, people can use them to “generate share codes for Right to Work and Right to Rent checks” for up to 18 months after the expiry date. Failure to get an eVisa within 18 months may be a breach of biometric registration regulations for which the Home Office can impose sanctions.
  • For travel to the UK, permits dated 31 December 2024 or later were valid until 1 June 2025. People who have not set up their eVisa now risk being denied boarding onto flights to the UK, even if they do have valid immigration permission.

Insofar as expired permits can still be used, the person’s underlying immigration permission also needs to remain valid. Someone who lets their visa expire will not be able to rely on an old residence permit.

People with proof of residence in an older format

The situation is different for “legacy paper documents”, such as a stamp indicating indefinite leave to remain in an old passport. Such people “can continue to prove their rights, as they do today, using their physical documents where these are permitted”.

There is no time limit on continued use of these older documents, although this might change in future and the Home Office is encouraging people who use them to apply for an eVisa.

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