The UK Government has announced that biometric residence permits (BRPs) will no longer be issued from 1 January 2025.
The current BRP system is being replaced with a new digital system for confirming immigration status, to be known as eVisa.
What is eVisa?
eVisa will act as an online record of an individual’s immigration status and permissions in the UK, allowing individuals who are granted permission to enter or remain in the UK to prove their status online.
The move to a digital system is designed to bring multiple benefits. BRPs are both expensive to produce and administer, and can be easily lost or stolen. BRPs are also limited in the information they can provide in relation to an individual’s immigration status. For example, BRPs do not show whether an individual has the right to work or to rent.
The Government believes that the new digital immigration status system will be more efficient, secure, and convenient than the current BRP system as it will allow individuals to prove their immigration status online, without having to carry a physical BRP. This will be particularly beneficial for individuals who frequently travel.
What do the changes mean for current BRP holders?
It has been confirmed that individuals who currently hold a BRP will not need to replace this when it expires. Instead, they will be able to use their BRP until it expires and then prove their immigration status online.
All new BRPs are now being issued with an expiry date of 31 December 2024, regardless of the individual’s period of leave. After this date, the individual will use eVisa to prove their immigration status.
Importantly, it is the BRP card that will expire on 31 December 2024, not the individual’s period of leave.
Further information about the new digital immigration status system is expected to be published in early 2024.
Contact us if you have any queries about the new system and its implications, for example on your organisation’s right to work checks.
Last updated: 2 November 2023
Author
Founder and Managing Director Anne Morris is a fully qualified solicitor and trusted adviser to large corporates through to SMEs, providing strategic immigration and global mobility advice to support employers with UK operations to meet their workforce needs through corporate immigration.
She is a recognised by Legal 500and Chambers as a legal expert and delivers Board-level advice on business migration and compliance risk management as well as overseeing the firm’s development of new client propositions and delivery of cost and time efficient processing of applications.
Anne is an active public speaker, immigration commentator, and immigration policy contributor and regularly hosts training sessions for employers and HR professionals
