{"id":639,"date":"2024-05-24T09:33:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T09:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unicornvisa.com\/en\/?p=639"},"modified":"2026-03-10T07:25:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T07:25:51","slug":"what-is-brp-biometric-residence-permit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unicornvisa.com\/en\/faq\/documents\/what-is-brp-biometric-residence-permit\/","title":{"rendered":"BRP is gone: the UK eVisa guide for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you landed here looking for your BRP, stop looking. Biometric Residence Permits are no longer issued, and every card that was ever issued expired on <strong>31 December 2024<\/strong>. Since January 2025 the UK proves immigration status digitally, through an <strong>eVisa<\/strong>. Here is what replaced the card and what you actually need to do.<\/p>\n<h2>What a BRP was and why it went away<\/h2>\n<p>A BRP was a plastic card carrying your photo, fingerprints and the details of your permission to stay. You got it after your visa was approved: you flew in with a vignette sticker in your passport, then collected the card from a Post Office. I collected one myself when I moved over on the Global Talent visa in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The Home Office has dropped cards entirely. Every BRP shows an expiry date of 31 December 2024, and that is the expiry date of <strong>the card as a document<\/strong>, not of your permission to stay. If your visa runs to 2028, it still runs to 2028. An expired card takes nothing away from you.<\/p>\n<h2>What an eVisa is<\/h2>\n<p>An eVisa is an online record of your immigration status held by the Home Office. It sits inside your <strong>UKVI account<\/strong> and is tied to the passport registered in that account.<\/p>\n<p>The key difference from a card: there is nothing to download, print and keep in your wallet. No PDF, no file, no QR code that counts as &#8220;your visa&#8221;. The record in the system is the only source of truth, and your account is how you reach it. The upside is that it cannot be lost, stolen or left in a drawer, and you can open your status from anywhere with a connection.<\/p>\n<h2>Who needs to act<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>You held a BRP and your permission runs past 2024.<\/strong> Create a UKVI account if you have not already. There is no other route to your status.<\/li>\n<li><strong>You were granted a visa in 2025 or later.<\/strong> You already have an account, created during the application. Just check that the passport on file is your current one.<\/li>\n<li><strong>You hold ILR evidenced by an old stamp or a letter.<\/strong> You need to move to digital status too.<\/li>\n<li><strong>You are a British citizen.<\/strong> Nothing to do. eVisas do not apply to you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Setting up and reaching your UKVI account<\/h2>\n<p>Creating the account is free. The Home Office sets out the current steps at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/evisa\">gov.uk\/evisa<\/a> and adjusts them from time to time, so check the official page. Broadly you will need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the passport you applied with, or your BRP number even if the card has expired;<\/li>\n<li>an email address and phone number you will keep long term, since verification codes go there;<\/li>\n<li>a smartphone to confirm your identity through the Home Office app.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One piece of advice from experience: use a personal email address, not a work one. You will lose the work inbox when you change jobs, and this account has to last you years. Write down which email and phone number you registered. Most access problems come down to someone not remembering which inbox they used.<\/p>\n<h2>Proving your status with a share code<\/h2>\n<p>An employer or a landlord cannot look your status up on their own. You generate a <strong>share code<\/strong> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/view-prove-immigration-status\">gov.uk\/view-prove-immigration-status<\/a> and hand it over with your date of birth. They enter both and see only what they are entitled to see.<\/p>\n<h3>Starting a job<\/h3>\n<p>Choose the &#8220;prove your right to work&#8221; option, generate the code and pass it to HR. Codes last a limited time, usually 90 days, and are tied to the purpose you picked, so a right to work code will not open a rental check. If an employer asks for a scan of your BRP, tell them the paper document no longer exists for anyone and the check is done through the code.<\/p>\n<h3>Renting a home<\/h3>\n<p>This needs its own code, generated under &#8220;prove your right to rent&#8221;. The agent or landlord verifies it on the government site the same way.<\/p>\n<h2>Travel<\/h2>\n<p>One rule: <strong>fly on the passport linked to your UKVI account<\/strong>. Airlines and Border Force check your status against the digital record, and the passport number is what connects you to it.<\/p>\n<p>That creates the one ongoing obligation every eVisa holder has. The moment you get a new passport, update the details in your account. It is free and done online, but do not leave it until the day of the flight, as the update is not always instant.<\/p>\n<h2>Common problems<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Locked out of the account.<\/strong> Almost always because access to the registered email or phone is gone. Recovery runs through the process on gov.uk\/evisa and the UKVI support line. Start it early, not at the airport.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wrong passport on file.<\/strong> Update the passport details. Until you do, expect questions at check-in.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Expired BRP, account never created.<\/strong> Your status is intact. Create the account now: the expired card still works as an identifier. There is no penalty for the delay, but without an account you cannot prove your right to work and you will struggle to re-enter the country.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wrong details in your status.<\/strong> A misspelled name, a wrong expiry date, the wrong type of permission: report it to the Home Office through the eVisa correction form. Do not leave it. Errors surface at the worst possible moment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What this means for Global Talent visa holders<\/h2>\n<p>If you are applying now, there is no card anywhere in your journey. Once stage two is approved your status is issued straight as an eVisa, you enter on your passport, and you collect nothing from anyone. Processing times are unchanged: around 3 weeks applying from outside the UK, around 8 weeks from inside.<\/p>\n<p>Costs did not change either. Government fees come to <strong>\u00a3766<\/strong>: \u00a3561 for endorsement at stage one and \u00a3205 for the visa at stage two. If you qualify through an eligible prestigious prize you skip endorsement and pay the full \u00a3766 at the visa stage. On top of that sits the IHS at \u00a31,035 per person per year.<\/p>\n<p>Family members get exactly the same digital status. Each dependant needs <strong>their own UKVI account and their own share code<\/strong>, so one household account will not work, and a parent creates and manages the account for a child. Each dependant pays the same \u00a3766 plus the same IHS. More detail on that in the guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/unicornvisa.com\/en\/family-members-gtv\/\">bringing family members on a Global Talent visa<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Questions and answers<\/h2>\n<h3>My BRP has expired. Has my visa run out?<\/h3>\n<p>No. 31 December 2024 is the expiry of the card, not of your permission to stay. Your status runs to the date on your visa decision and is visible in your UKVI account.<\/p>\n<h3>Is there anything I should carry with me?<\/h3>\n<p>Only the passport linked to your account. You can print a copy of your status for peace of mind, but it proves nothing legally.<\/p>\n<h3>I lost the passport my status is linked to. Now what?<\/h3>\n<p>The status belongs to you, not to the booklet. Get a new passport and update the details in your UKVI account. If you are abroad when it happens, do that before you book flights.<\/p>\n<h3>What does moving to an eVisa cost?<\/h3>\n<p>Nothing. Creating the account, viewing your status, generating share codes and updating your passport are all free. If someone is charging you to &#8220;process your eVisa&#8221;, it is not the Home Office.<\/p>\n<p>If you are still planning your Global Talent application and want a straight read on your case, <a href=\"https:\/\/unicornvisa.com\/en\/uk\/global-talent-visa\/consultation\/\">book a consultation<\/a>. We will go through your profile, your realistic chances at endorsement and the order to do things in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you landed here looking for your BRP, stop looking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documents"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BRP abolished: the UK eVisa guide for 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BRP cards are gone and all expired on 31 Dec 2024. 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