eVisas – urgent update

As we have informed you more than once, hard-copy immigration documents like BRPs and vignettes are supposed to be dead and buried by 31 December 2024 and will be entirely replaced by eVisas. 

But maybe not after all. The Home Office has just announced that things have not gone fully to plan and that 31 December is not the real deadline. 

The Minister for Migration and Citizenship has stated in Parliament:

“In order to smooth the transition to eVisas, we have decided to allow carriers to accept a BRP or EUSS BRC (EU biometric residence card) expiring on or after 31 December 2024 as valid evidence of permission to travel until at least 31 March and this date will be kept under review.

Customers travelling in the early part of the year are therefore advised to continue carrying their expired BRP, as this will add to the range of checking options already available to carriers.”

We take this to mean that at least for the time being hardcopy immigration documents will still be acceptable and (if everything else is satisfactory) you should have no problem entering or re-entering the UK. 

Any more changes we will let you know. 

Oliver Westmoreland

Senior Immigration Lawyer