The Home Office are starting to realise the chaos they’ve caused with the eVisa rollout. The Government has reportedly announced that the planned shift to the new digital immigration system will be postponed. Despite warnings from civil society that the shift would have a detrimental impact on migrants who already are subjected to constantly changing immigration rules, the Home Office pressed ahead.
However, in the last few days the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship announced that in order to “ensure a smooth transition to eVisas, airlines and other carriers will be able to accept BRPs and EU Settlement Scheme BRCs expiring on 31 December 2024 or later as evidence of permission to travel to the UK, provisionally until 31 March 2025. The Home Office said this 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.”
While this will provide relief to some, it is clear from speaking to migrants in our community over the last few months that the switch to digital status is causing a huge amount of stress and confusion. So many people risk getting caught out by the change or falling through the cracks as a result of technical errors, not being aware of the change, or lack of support. For example, it was reported on 9th December 2024 that people from Macau and Hong Kong are “abandoning” the system after being incorrectly recorded as Chinese. Despite repeated claims from the Home Office that they have implemented a thorough “targeted advertising campaign”, it’s clear to anyone who has supported migrants through this change that many people are being excluded.
“This process is placing blame and fear on to people out of sheer incompetence of the Home Office. We all have valid visas, and have already filed for these visas through extensive paperwork. Then, when the Home Office decided to digitalise their system, the responsibility was shifted onto individual people to do the work of the institution. Instead of paying staff to transfer and log the data, the Home Office is forcing free labour and causing emotional distress for people without secured immigration status, all the while knowing people will, and must, do it or else risk legal consequences. This system does not benefit the people facing the greatest impact. It only terrifies.” – Member of MRN community
The eVisa scheme was set up to exclude people. We cannot support a change that is causing so much stress and anguish to our community. Calls from the Home Office for individuals to apply for an eVisa as soon as possible isn’t good enough, nor does it address the fundamental issues with the scheme. We demand the scheme be ‘indefinitely’ postponed rather than simply ‘extended’.
For more information on how we’re challenging the digital Hostile Environment, check out our Hostile Office campaign.