Refugee charity West London Welcome has expressed concern a new eVisa scheme will leave thousands unable to prove their asylum status.
On 17 April this year, the Home Office announced they would be sending invitations, in phases, to those with physical Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) to apply for an eVisa, which will be the recognised identity document for refugees going forward.
Refugees must create a UKVI account and apply for their eVisa by 31 December as all BRPs will expire on 1 January 2025, but West London Welcome’s deputy director Leyla Williams critcised a lack of assistance available for those needing to submit the required details.
Williams said: “We’re really worried about this becoming a cliff-edge – a Windrush scandal.
“[The scheme has been] poorly advertised and rushed through.”
She stressed that the vast majority of refugees that the charity helps were not aware of the scheme and staff have had to conduct community education to raise fundamental awareness.
Williams added refugees who fail to apply for an eVisa before 31 December could find themselves unable to prove their asylum status in 2025 and thus unable to prove their right to work, rent, or access health and public services which their BRPs would have afforded them.
She stated elderly refugees and those with little to no English are likely to be unaware of the need to apply for an eVisa without assistance.
Additionally, refugees who have already applied are now waiting an indefinite amount of time for the eVisa to be processed.
An Eritrean woman, currently being supported by the charity, applied for her eVisa with her BRP and has been waiting several weeks to receive it.
Williams described her as a vulnerable individual who had been a victim of modern slavery.
She added the woman would not have been able to apply for the eVisa without WLW’s assistance, with the wait leaving her unsure whether she will effectively be undocumented for a period of time.
As of 31 October 2024, the Home Office stopped issuing physical BRPs and those with newly gained asylum status had to have UKVI accounts created for them to apply for their eVisa.
Additionally, the new eVisa cannot be downloaded and saved.
Instead, refugees will undergo ‘real-time checks’.
The Open Rights Group detailed how, with previous digitised ID schemes, some people had been unable to access their status because of a system crash or had incorrect personal information attributed to them.
An Open Rights Group spokesperson said: “We need more transparency from the Home Office about how visas will generate someone’s status, what data is held about them and where, and what mitigations are in place if the system fails.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “EVisas bring significant benefits.
“They cannot be lost, stolen or tampered with, unlike a physical document, and also increase the UK immigration system’s security and efficiency.
“The transition to eVisas does not impact a person’s underlying immigration status, and they will be able to use an expired BRP to create a UKVI account to access their eVisa.
“We will create UKVI accounts for those with no valid documents.”
Featured image: West London Welcome
