What employers need to know about eVisas and right to work checks

It’s the Government’s aim for the UK’s immigration system to become fully digitalised and, as part of that plan, all biometric card holders can now apply for an eVisa. Crucially, all biometric residence permits (BRPs) are set to expire on 31 December, so for employees who hold a BRP, the key action point is to apply for an eVisa by 31 December.

If this is relevant to any of your workforce, to minimise any impact to your business, consider sending a memo to all staff signposting them to the relevant information on the Home Office’s website which can be found here.

Employers should check whether any individuals they engage have previously demonstrated their right to work using a biometric residence card (including BRPs and Biometric Residence Cards).  If so, it’s important for employers to understand whether repeat right to work checks need to be carried out to maintain a statutory excuse.

Whether a repeat check is required or not will depend on whether a manual check or an online check was performed prior to employing the individual in question.

If a manual check was performed (which was permissible prior to 6 April 2022), to maintain a statutory excuse after 31 December 2024, a repeat check using the Home Office’s online system is required before the expiry of the document used to carry out the check (i.e. 31 December 2024 or, if earlier, the date detailed on the document).

If an online check was carried out correctly and the individual’s permission to work in the UK expires after 31 December 2024, it’s not necessary to carry out a repeat check until the employee’s permission is due to expire.

If you have any questions about eVisas, right to work checks or anything else business immigration relation, please do contact Emma Cousins, Legal Director, at emma.cousins@torquelaw.co.uk.