Death of the BRP?
Biometric Residence Permits are set to expire on 31 December 2024, as Right to Work checks are digitised
The Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) was introduced in 2008, to act as proof of an individual’s immigration status and Right to Work in the UK. Traditionally, an individual who applied for a visa would receive a vignette visa stamp in their passport and would then need to collect their BRP on arrival in the UK.
More recently, individuals applying for a visa for the UK who use an APP to register their biometric information, as opposed to providing their biometrics at a face-to-face appointment, have instead been granted electronic visas (evisas). The evisa allows the individual to prove their Right to Work status by generating a share code online, rather than having to collect a physical BRP – you can read more about this here.
However, those migrants who are issued with new BRPs have the expiry date as being 31 December 2024, even where the migrant’s permission to stay in the UK is for a longer period. The Home Office expects the use of BRPs to diminish by the end of 2024, confirming that BRPs will no longer be required from 1 January 2025.
Currently, individuals with a BRP can prove their Right to Work using the online checking service. It is expected that this service will continue to operate, but the Home Office have stated that they will provide further information as to how individuals will evidence their immigration status in early 2024.
In the meantime, successful visa applicants should retain communication from the Home Office confirming the dates of their permission to stay in the UK. Employers should also be retaining the right to work status page which shows the migrant’s valid work period.
If you have any questions regarding your visa application or on obtaining visas for your migrant workers, please get in touch at [email protected]
