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Millions of people living in the UK will see their physical immigration documents expire in the new year as the Home Office transfers to a digital system.
From 1 January 2025, foreign nationals will have to rely on digital records of their status to travel to the UK, prove their right to work, or rent a flat.
Airline carriers, ferry and international train operators will be able to automatically access the immigration status of their passengers when they present their travel documents.
Migrants’ rights charities and experts have raised concerns that previous glitches with Home Office systems, such as merging of people’s identities, could hit the new digital roll-out in the new year. But government ministers have promised a “smooth transition” with a three-month grace period for expired documents.
How will my visa change on 31 December?
Visas issued by the UK Home Office are being switched to digital systems in the new year. This means that most government-issued documents that confirm a person’s immigration status will expire at midnight on 31 December 2024.
From 1 January 2025, people will have to prove their immigration status by using the government website, View and Prove. This will show that they have an eVisa and give the user a share code, which they can give to others to prove their status.
Foreign nationals should set up a UKVI account to access their eVisa before the 31 December deadline. Their online account will then be linked to their physical travel documents, such as a passport, to allow travel providers to run checks.
Dr Kuba Jablonowski, digital sociology lecturer at the University of Bristol, explained the changes, saying: “It’s not really that the documents are being switched over, it’s like they’re being switched off.
“It’s like switching from vinyl to Spotify. You can still listen to music, but it is very different in lots of ways. For example, if Spotify stops working you lose access to all the music that you have.
“Essentially with Spotify you don’t have any music, you rely on Spotify streaming the music to you. This is essentially what is happening with people’s immigration status.”
Will it affect my ability to travel internationally?
Airline carriers will be relying on automated status checks as part of their check-in procedures.
If these checks fail then they can also use the View and Prove website to check someone has the right to enter the country.
Ferry and international train operators should also be able to access the immigration status of their passengers.
Travellers need to have connected their travel documents to their UK Visas and Immigration account.
How many people are affected?
As of early December, 3.1 million had switched from physical documents to an eVisa already, according to the Home Office.
The government has not provided statistics for how many more people need to make the move, however more than four million people in total are thought to need to change to eVisas. That leaves nearly a million who had not yet made the switch by early December.
Is there a grace period for expired documents?
Yes, the Home Office announced in December that there would be a grace period where physical documents can still be used up to 31 March.
This extension is to “ease transition and address concerns” with the system, officials have said.
Airlines and other carriers will be allowed to accept expired biometric residence permits and cards for UK visa holders travelling back to Britain up to 31 March.
The Home Office says that anyone with indefinite leave to remain who uses an ink stamp or vignette in a passport to prove their rights will be able to continue to use these documents as they do today.
Will there be any problems with the switch to eVisas?
Refugee charities and experts have raised concerns about how the switch to digital will work, given past complications with the Home Office’s digital systems.
The Home Office has already faced issues with an immigration database that saw thousands of people being listed with incorrect names, photographs or immigration status.
Part of the problems involved “merged identities”, where two or more people had their biographical and biometric details linked incorrectly.
Separately some people who are legally in the UK and have the right to work here, but who are waiting on visa renewals, don’t have any documentation that they can use to prove their rights. This status is known as 3C leave, and despite a High Court judge telling the Home Office to provide these people with digital documents, this has not happened for many people.
Nick Beales, at refugee charity Ramfel, warned people who could not prove their immigration status would see their livelihoods threatened, adding many people weren’t even being issued e-visas while they waited years for the government to process visa applications.
Dr Jablonowski described the groups of people who might come across problems: “You have people who haven’t made the switch at all – who don’t have an online UKVI account.
“They may not know about it or haven’t been able to get one. They will have to hope that people who are boarding them when they travel will know that they have the right to come to the UK.
“Even if you have made the transition there could be problems with merged identities, which we have seen before with Home Office systems.
“The biggest concern is that the carriers will agree with the changes but the personnel might not be up to speed with those changes, which will create a lot of friction.”
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