The UK has moved from physical immigration documents like Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) to a fully digital system, the eVisa. The transition completed on 31 December 2024, so from 2025 onwards immigration status is held online rather than on a card. This guide explains what that means for employers and workers in 2026.
For employers
What is an eVisa?
An eVisa is a digital record of someone's immigration status, accessed through a UKVI account. It replaced BRPs, passport visa vignettes and ink stamps. Almost everyone with UK immigration status now proves it digitally rather than with a physical document.
Right to work checks
For an eVisa holder, you carry out a right to work check using a share code. The worker generates a nine-digit share code from their UKVI account and gives it to you with their date of birth. You enter both on the gov.uk right to work service to get a statutory result, which you keep on file. Physical document checks still apply to British and Irish citizens, using a passport, and a small number of legacy cases. If you cannot get an online result, you can use the Home Office Employer Checking Service. Our team can keep your Home Office compliance on track.
What this changed
You no longer handle or store physical BRPs for status checks, which is faster and lowers the risk of lost or forged documents. Make sure your HR team is comfortable with the share-code service, and that any worker who still relies on an old physical document has set up their UKVI account. If you sponsor workers, we can also run the visa process for you.
The penalty follows the missing record, not the hiring decision. Our free right to work check checklist covers the share code process step by step, the evidence that gives you a statutory excuse, and the follow-up dates that are easiest to miss.
Automate Home Office Audits with Borderless
The Borderless platform provides a centralized system for all sponsorships, automating reminders for key tasks and ensuring best practices across your organization, simplifying audit preparation and ongoing compliance.
For workers
How to access your eVisa
If you do not yet have a UKVI account, set one up at gov.uk/evisa to access your eVisa. Once it is set up, you prove your status with a share code rather than a card.
What you need to do
- Create your UKVI account at gov.uk/evisa.
- Generate a share code whenever you need to prove your status for work, renting or services, and give it to the employer or landlord with your date of birth.
- Keep your details, such as your passport, up to date in your account.
What if I still have a BRP?
BRPs are no longer issued, and all of them expired on 31 December 2024. That did not change the validity of the visa behind the card: if your leave runs to a later date, you still hold it. Set up your UKVI account so you can prove your status with a share code.
FAQs
Does moving to an eVisa change my immigration status? No. Your status and the expiry date of your leave are unchanged.
How do I check a worker's status? Ask for a share code from their UKVI account and check it on the gov.uk right to work service with their date of birth.
How Borderless helps
If you sponsor workers, we handle the sponsor licence, the visa process and ongoing compliance, including right to work checks. Book a demo.
