Changes to UK Immigration Introduces eVisas

The Home Office is moving towards a fully digital immigration system. As part of this, from 1 January 2025, “eVisas” will become the expected practice for individuals to demonstrate their right to work in the UK. The new digital system will allow an individual with a restricted right to work or indefinite leave to remain to access and share their right to work details online through their UK Visas Immigration (UKVI) account.

As a result, almost all biometric residence permits and biometric residence cards will expire on 31 December 2024 and they (as well as any other physical immigration documents) will be replaced by eVisas.

It is critical therefore that employees are aware of this and take appropriate steps to ensure they have a UKVI account set up in advance of 31 December 2024 in order to be able to access their digital right to work status. Employers should take steps to make employees aware of this update in case they have not received an invite to set up an account or are not aware that they need to do this before the expiry date.

In some cases, employers may need to carry out a follow up right to work check before 31 December 2024. This will be the case for employees who have a time-limited permission to stay which was flagged during the initial right to work check. Generally speaking, there will be no need to recheck the status of an existing employee’s right to work solely because their biometric residence permit or biometric residence card expires on 31 December 2024.

Upon reading this, if you have any questions or concerns regarding the move to eVisas or right to work check more generally, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Employment Team.