Foreign residents of the UK no longer get a residence permit. The Home Office, which is responsible for migration, is instead providing access to an online eVisa. It stopped issuing physical residence permits from 31 October 2024 and has marked almost all existing ones with an expiry date of 31 December 2024.

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 and no physical permit. Other people, such as those on the special Hong Kong visa route, have been getting eVisas as they move to the UK or extend their immigration permission.  

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. Some people who do not need to extend their immigration permission until 2025 or 2026 may also need to actively register for an 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.

Migrants’ rights organisations say that people who fail to set up their eVisa, or who are affected by technical glitches, will inevitably experience such problems.

How do constituents get access to their eVisa?

By creating a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account online. 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.

Some people may already have a UKVI account as well as a physical permit. Such people are not required to sign up, but if travelling abroad must make sure that their passport is linked to the account.

If someone already has an eVisa, should they keep their physical residence permit? 

Yes. Residence permits can still be used for travel to the UK until at least 31 March 2025, so long as they are dated 31 December 2024 (or later) and the person’s underlying immigration permission has not expired. The Home Office announced this transitional measure on 4 December 2024.

Even beyond that, the department says that people should keep their expired card as it may help with future applications to extend their immigration permission.

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.

Such people can apply online to replace their paper document with an eVisa. Up until 31 October 2024, they were given a biometric residence permit to use to set up a UKVI account. Now they skip the residence permit step and go directly to an eVisa.

Until recently, people making these ‘no time limit’ applications 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.

Are eVisas replacing visa stickers for initial travel to the UK as well?

Eventually, yes, but visas stuck into passports – formally known as entry clearance vignettes – will continue to be issued beyond 2024, according to the law firm Bindmans. This includes people with visitor visas, who are not currently getting eVisas.

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).

The Home Office says it plans to phase out physical visa vignettes “over the next year”.

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 acccount, 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. From 31 December 2024, there will also be a helpline that passengers can call directly: 0800 8766921 or 0203 337 0927.

What happens to people who fail to get an eVisa by 31 December 2024?

People with expired biometric residence permits

Old permits can still be used to set up an eVisa after 31 December 2024. In addition, the Home Office has effectively extended the validity of permits into 2025 as a transitional measure:

  • Within the UK, people will “still be able to use the online right to work and rent services to prove their rights once their BRP [biometric residence permit] expires”, at least for a limited period.
  • For travel to the UK, permits dated 31 December 2024 or later will remain valid until at least 31 March 2025. Airlines will be told to accept them as an alternative to automated notification that the person has an eVisa and is allowed to board.

In all cases, the person’s underlying immigration permission needs to remain valid. Someone who lets their visa expire will not be able to rely on an old residence permit.

It is not clear how long these transitional measures will last. Once phased out, people with expired residence permits may not be able to prove their legal status within the UK and might be denied boarding onto flights to the UK, even if they do have valid immigration permission. It therefore remains very important to sign up for an eVisa.

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 use their documents as they do today, including for travel“, apparently indefinitely.

The Home Office says the position for people with these older documents “does not change at the end of the year”. It is nevertheless encouraging them to apply for an eVisa. The department might also decide to withdraw the validity of these documents at some point in the future, effectively making eVisas compulsory for this group.


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