The Home Office aims to have a fully digitalised immigration system by 2025. It is important that UK businesses keep up to date with the latest changes to ensure they remain compliant when employing migrant workers.
What are the latest changes?
By 1 January 2025, the Home Office aims to have a fully digitalised immigration system. A key element of the move to a digital immigration system is the introduction of eVisas. This has been introduced with the view of simplifying the process of checking a person’s immigration status.
The Home Office began sending email invites in April 2024 requesting that holders of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) create a UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) account to access their eVisa. Initially, these emails were rolled out to certain cohorts of status holders. It has recently been announced that from 6 August 2024, all BRP holders can now create a UKVI account to access their eVisa.
What does this mean for businesses?
Businesses will need to ensure that they continue to make compliant right to work checks in accordance with the current guidance when onboarding new employees. Where an initial check has confirmed that an employee has time limited permission, employers will need to carry out a follow up compliant right to work check, following the correct procedure, depending on the individual’s circumstances.
The current process for conducting right to work checks is set out in the right to work guidance. The Home Office has also produced a useful right to work checklist. Now is a good time for employers to review this, so that they are familiar with the guidance.
The overall move towards digitalisation has meant that the Home Office can, and will, be able to carry out more effective checks online. The removal of expiry dates for sponsor licences can lead to organisations overlooking the continued maintenance of their licence, especially if they are not currently sponsoring workers. This is likely to result in increased Home Office compliance action against businesses that hold a sponsor licence. As we move towards an age of digitalisation, it is still important for businesses with a sponsor licence to ensure that they retain relevant documents for each sponsored worker in line with Appendix D of the sponsor guidance.
How to prepare employees for eVisas
The move to eVisas will impact a vast number of individuals with permission to stay in the UK. It is therefore important that they are aware of the move to eVisas in good time, in order for them to set up their UKVI account.
For BRP holders, the process of creating a UKVI account and accessing an eVisa is straightforward. Our guide to eVisas provides step-by-step instructions and is a useful tool to refer to employees who need to set up an account.
Individuals who hold their permission in the form of a legacy document, or an old-style endorsement in a passport, cannot create a UKVI account straight away. They firstly need to make a No Time Limit (NTL) application to transfer their existing permission onto a BRP, which they can then use to create a UKVI account to access their eVisa. This process can be fairly lengthy, as the processing time for an NTL application is currently up to six months.
Ensuring that employees are prepared for the transition to eVisas can help to reduce concerns regarding evidencing their status, and travelling outside the UK, as 2025 approaches. We strongly recommend that UK businesses are pro-active and contact employees who may be affected to advise them of the move to eVisas, and the steps they may need to take. We would also recommend following up with any employees impacted by the change to ensure they have set up the account and they can view their eVisa.
Webinar: September 2024 eVisas and digitalisation
Join us on Thursday 26 September 2024 from 10.00am to 11.00am for our ‘eVisas and digitalisation’ webinar, where we will explore the latest changes regarding the digitalised immigration system in detail.
Our webinar will cover:
- the digitalisation process;
- eVisas;
- creating a UKVI account;
- actions for organisations; and
- Q&A.
You can find out more, including how to join the webinar, here.
Businesses and digitalisation: How our Immigration Solicitors can help
It is important that businesses are aware of how the digitalisation of the immigration system will affect their processes and their employees. Our solicitors remain up to date with the key changes relating to eVisas and digitalisation and are best placed to advise UK businesses on any action they need to take.
If your business or organisation requires legal assistance in relation to a sponsorship or immigration matter, or if you would like to discuss your situation with a member of our team, please contact us or complete our enquiry form below.
Make an enquiry
