Online immigration status: eVisa

An eVisa is an online record of your immigration status in the UK. The eVisa has replaced BRPs. 

You’ll need access to your eVisa account for as long as you hold a valid immigration permission of longer than 6 months.

UKVI Factsheet: eVisas

UKCISA eVisa FAQs

If you hold valid immigration permission for longer than 6 months, you must get access to your online eVisa account now. 

The new online eVisa system is how you can safely share proof of your immigration status to others, for example when seeking employment/work, study, housing and healthcare. 

Travel carriers, such as airlines, will require proof of immigration permission evidence before being allowed to board/travel into the UK. Lacking online eVisa access, where it is required, will therefore cause inconvenience or major hardship in various situations. 

You already have a UKVI online account with eVisa access, if you have ever:

• used the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to prove your identity when applying for a UK visa, or
• created an UKVI online account when applying for a UK visa

You will need to keep your account up-to-date with your current passport and personal details. 

Update online eVisa account details

Otherwise, you will need to create a UKVI online account to get eVisa access:

You'll usually need ONE of the following to set up your account:

• a valid passport and your visa application reference number
• a valid passport and your BRP reference number
• your BRP

When creating the UKVI account, you should use the details of the passport which was provided to UKVI when making your most recent immigration application. 

If you apply for a new visa from inside the UK and receive a positive decision on or after 1 November, your visa decision will tell you to set up an eVisa online account. There are no more BRPs issued in the UK from 1 November 2024 onwards.

Who cannot have online eVisa access?

• Visa issued for less than 6 months duration
• Visitor permission to enter on arrival (for up to 6 months for non-visa nationals) or hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to travel as a Visitor and don't have a UK visa.
• Certificate of entitlement proving you have the 'Right of Abode' in the UK
• Asylum seekers (waiting on an asylum claim)

You should check your initial UKVI visa decision letter for your visa expiry date. 

When you obtain an online eVisa account, you must ensure your details, including your expiry date, are correct. 

You must keep your BRP safe even after it expires as it's an important immigration document. You should keep a copy of your UKVI visa decision letter and eVisa emails as part of your UK immigration records.

GOV.UK - BRP expiring guidance

If travelling overseas, you must make sure your passport is linked to your online eVisa account. It is important to check that your online eVisa ID document details are up to date, before a re-entry/return to the UK.

You should make sure the advance passenger information you provide to a travel carrier (such as an airline) matches your online eVisa details (nationality, immigration status and passport)

You may be delayed or denied boarding by airline carriers, if your eVisa information is not up-to-date and linked to your current passport.

To be able to re-enter the UK, you must prepare all of the following documents:

• valid passport (all passports if dual national)
• your most recent UKVI visa decision letter, if you have it
• copy of your eVisa status details
• obtain a new valid share code (valid for 90 days)

From 2 June 2025 expired BRPs can no longer be used to travel to the UK. You will need an eVisa to demonstrate your permission to travel to the UK

eVisa travel guidance

eVisa webchat and FAQs

UKVI video guidance: how to travel with an eVisa

Update your eVisa account

You must keep your eVisa account up-to-date with the following details

• mobile phone number
• email address
• name
• identity document, such as your passport
• home address in the UK
• postal address (if different to home address)
• add extra nationality passport - if you hold dual nationality

Update your eVisa account

How to update your account details - GOV.UK Video

Using your UK Visas and Immigration account - GOV.UK

When a travel carrier requires immigration support for eVisa boarding checks

There is a UKVI Carrier Support Hub that will offer a 24/7 support service to travel carriers and will be staffed by UK Border Force officers. These officers are trained to deal with enquiries from carriers regarding all types of travel document requirements including identity documents, and both physical and e-Visas. 

Carriers and operators can seek advice about a passenger’s permission to travel by calling the UK Border Force Carrier Support Hub. The Carrier Support Hub phone line is for carriers and operators only, not individuals. 

Report your eVisa problem to UKVI

Please use the UKVI webform below to report an error with your eVisa account details. You should briefly explain what the error is and enter your information. The eVisa team will respond to you in due course and you will need to monitor this request for further updates.

You may also use the eVisa webchat service for technical or error queries. You should 'ask to speak to an advisor' when starting a new chat so it connects to a person, rather than chatting to a computer (take screenshots of the chat as a record).

Report an error with eVisa using the GOV webform

Use the GOV eVisa webchat service and FAQs

Update eVisa account to current passport

Make sure your current passport is updated on your online eVisa account - before overseas travel

eVisa technical assistance

If you encounter any technical issues, there is a webchat service, FAQs and videos to help you

eVisa webchat service and FAQs

'How to' evisa videos

Using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app

Cannot sign in to your UKVI online account

UKVI online account recovery is only to be used if you cannot sign in after several attempts. 

If you still require further help with any eVisa issues, you can contact UKVI contact centre for guidance on the eVisa process

If you still need help after checking all of the above guidance, you can send an online enquiry to our team with full details of the eVisa error. 

How to recover access to your account

Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help

Using your UK Visas and Immigration account

If you need help with a lost passport or BRP

You can no longer get a replacement biometric residence permit (BRP). You should still report your BRP as lost to UKVI online.

You should also report your passport as lost with the police and apply for a replacement passport through your embassy. 

If you do not have a valid passport or BRP, you may not be able to use the UKVI IDV app to confirm your identity. UKVI may have to set up a video interview to do this instead. In this case, you must speak to UKVI by phone or start a eVisa webchat with an advisor.

If your BRP is lost or stolen process

Prove your eVisa status without a BRP

Lost or stolen passport and BRP information

How to contact UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)

• General information only - Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help (if inside UK)
• General information only- Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help (if outside UK)

If you are a national of the People’s Republic of China holding a passport issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or Macao Special Administrative Region, please link your current passport to your eVisa account. The online eVisa when linked should confirm your nationality as China, to match your passport details (MRZ code).

To link a new passport to your UKVI eVisa account, you should:

1. Sign in to your UKVI account.
2. Select the option to add an identity document.
3. Select the option ‘No, my personal details have not changed’.
4. Complete the required fields to add your passport.
5. The process is complete once you receive a confirmation email that a new identity document has been added to your UKVI account.

If you have Refugee Status with an expired BRP, please set up your eVisa account now:

You can set up your UKVI online account for eVisa access using your BRP.

If you were granted refugee status in the UK recently, you may have been issued an eVisa already with no BRP. Your UKVI immigration decision email tells you further information. You should save/keep your UKVI emails safe as these are part of your immigration records.

eVisa help as a refugee - Scottish Refugee Council 

Support organisations in Scotland that offer eVisa help

Asylum Seeker - If you are waiting on an asylum claim:

Asylum seekers will continue to use the Application Registration Card (ARC). An eVisa will NOT be issued during the asylum process. You cannot get eVisa access at this time.

An eVisa is for those who have been granted permission to stay in the UK (for example, Refugee leave to remain). If you are granted leave to remain following a positive asylum decision, you will need eVisa access at that point. 

Make sure your contact details are up-to-date with your asylum claim. If you are awaiting a decision on your asylum claim, provide your phone number and email address to UKVI/Home Office as soon as possible using the asylumcentralcommunicationshub@contactus.homeoffice.gov.uk inbox. Those acting on your behalf, such as your solicitor (if the UKVI/Home Office doesn’t have an up-to-date Letter of Authority) should also use the inbox and attach a Letter of Authority to the email address.

The UK government has plans to replace physical ARC card with a digital format, later in 2026. However, there is no clear timeline for this transition. Until then, ARC cards will continue to be issued to individuals who are claiming asylum. 

Migrant Help - Asylum Guide

What happens when you get Refugee Status? – Right to Remain

If you have recently been granted Refugee or HP status

UKVI will create an online UKVI eVisa account for newly recognised refugees who don't hold a valid passport. This will be set up within 14 days of a positive decision on the asylum claim. This will be explained to them in their decision letter or email. 

UKVI will inform the person that their UKVI eVisa account has been created for them and provide the necessary information for them to sign in. This communication will also include details on how to get support for accessing or reporting any issues with their online eVisa. 

UKVI have recently implemented a time limited pilot to extend the ‘move on period’ so that newly recognised refugees have 56 days to move on from the decision grant date to help support local authorities. This is to clear the asylum backlog and help with the transition to the online eVisa system. It is important that newly recognised refugees initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements, regardless of when their UKVI account details or discontinuation letter are issued.

eVisa FAQs - Scottish Refugee Council

eVisa factsheet (see asylum and refugee section)

Legacy Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) Documents - If you have ILR and never had a BRP, you must upgrade with a free NTL application:

If you have ILE or ILR status, you are free of immigration time restrictions and considered to be ‘settled’ in the UK (if ordinarily resident). 

If you have ILR status evidenced on a ISD (letter) or paper document (and were never issued a BRP), you must apply for a free 'No Time Limit (NTL)' online application. These older types of documents are known as an immigration status document (ISD), a wet-ink stamp in a passport or a vignette sticker. A BRP would have never been issued to you in these cases. 

A No Time Limit (NTL) is an application to get confirmation of your status as an online eVisa. Once the NTL application is decided, you will receive access to an online 'eVisa'. You will be told how to access the eVisa in your new UKVI decision letter (via email)

You can continue to prove your rights using your existing older immigration documents during the transition period, where this is permitted. 

e-Visa support and FAQs - Scottish Refugee Council

‘No Time Limit’ (NTL) application guidance

Indefinite leave to remain in the UK (ILR): rights and status

eVisa factsheet

No, it is no longer necessary to return an expired BRP to the Home Office. 

Expired BRP cards can be kept safe as they may help with future settlement applications for the UK.