Online Only: On the UK’s new digital-first immigration process
The Home Office most certainly likes to keep busy. One writer explores the true cost of the UK’s digital border
In 2022, the Home Office unveiled its plan to create an 'end-to-end digital customer experience' for immigration, moving every step of the process online – from application form to immigration documents. The plan sees the complete phase-out of all analogue paperwork by 31 December 2024, with Biometrics Residencies Permits (BRP) and Cards (BRC), along with all legacy documents including passport stamps and residency letters, set to be replaced by eVisas: fully digitised records of immigration status, accessible online-only.
First introduced with the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) in 2019, which handled residency rights for EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, eVisas were progressively introduced to other schemes before applications opened to all in spring 2024. Individuals currently holding BRP, BRC and other documents need to create a UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) account, download the Home Office app, and scan their documents using a smartphone to prove their status and access their eVisa. Additionally, legacy document holders may first need to obtain a BRP via a no-time-limit (NTL) application, before they can upload it to their UKVI account and obtain their eVisa. When requested to prove their status – for example, when taking up a new job, applying to rent or buy property, or accessing benefits – individuals will need to log-in to their UKVI account and generate a unique-use share-code to give to the relevant authorities. The latter will then need to connect to the View-and-Prove online platform and input the share-code to view the eVisa.
Though the Home Office introduced eVisas as 'simpler and more intuitive' to use, the new system only seems to transfer the complex offline bureaucracy of immigration to online space, offloading all responsibility to the eVisa holder. While this series of events may seem rather straightforward to the technology-minded, it relies on three key components which fundamentally challenge its accessibility: a reliable internet connection, access to (quality) digital devices, and sufficient digital literacy to use them. Those cover all three barriers to digital inclusion identified by Ofcom and subsequently recognised by Parliament, as well as two of the four criteria outlined by the EU.
Florence*, who is in the UK on a student visa, transferred to an eVisa earlier this month. When she registered her UKVI account, she struggled to scan her BRP with her Android phone, despite the phone complying with the Home Office app’s requirements. “I had to ask a friend with an iPhone, but still it didn’t work. I did manage in the end through asking other friends,” she says. “I find it easy to use these gadgets, but I can imagine it would be a challenge for someone who’s not technology literate.”
Illustration: Amy Lauren
Digital exclusion can critically impact an individual’s capacity to engage in public life and access services including jobs, benefits, and education. Research by the Good Thing Foundation, a digital inclusion charity, and the University of Liverpool, note that factors of digital exclusion intersect with other forms of disadvantage, increasing risks of exclusion for individuals living in poverty, and disabled and elderly people. A recent report from Audit Scotland found that 15% of all adults in Scotland lack foundational digital skills.
Digital rights organisation Open Rights Group (ORG) has warned that eVisas will further increase the digital divide, with communities concerned by the policy already at higher risk of digital exclusion. Individuals using legacy documents, who are usually older, may be particularly affected, ORG argues, along with individuals with limited digital literacy who may struggle to keep their UKVI account safe from threats such as scams and phishing, a risk factor increased by the existing language barriers many already face.
Digital literacy is not only a key skill in using technology and identifying malicious actors, but is also important when navigating technical issues, which an online-only system may make all the more frequent. The3Million, an organisation which supports EU citizens in the UK, has gathered reports from eVisa holders under the EUSS across the past five years of the scheme. These include erroneous information automatically collected during the application causing delays and rejections, prolonged interruption to the system leaving individuals without access to their eVisa, and data entanglement, where parts of someone’s data is displayed on someone else’s eVisa. The organisation has put forward a proposal to replace the current system with personal QR codes leading to a static online-only immigration status, saying the code could be used from a mobile phone or with physical cards and passport stickers. Despite these concerns, the Terms and Conditions for UKVI accounts states that the Home Office is not liable for 'any loss or damage that arises from use of the UKVI account' including 'information that is lost or corrupted while data is being transmitted, processed or downloaded from the UKVI account.' Thankfully, a Resolution Centre for technical issues is available, along with a list of organisations who can provide support. The Home Office also offers digital access support for eligible applicants via phone or face-to-face, weekdays only.
Amid the UK’s ever-violent treatment towards migrants, it is difficult to trust that the eVisas program has emerged solely from a desire to improve customer service, or that it will be implemented with sufficient care and support. While digitalisation may be convenient for some, the UK’s move towards an online-only immigration system in the face of growing digital exclusion risks leaving already vulnerable communities behind.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy