Digital Immigration Status

What is an eVisa? 

Updating your physical document to an eVisa does not affect your immigration status or the conditions of your permission to enter or stay in the UK. 

In the future you’ll be able to use an eVisa to travel to the UK – you will not need to carry a physical document, except for your current passport, which must be registered to your UKVI account. Until the end of 2024 you will need to continue to carry your physical document when you travel, if you have one. 

The benefits of eVisas include: 

• they are secure and cannot be lost, stolen or tampered with, unlike a physical document 
• you will not need to wait for, or collect, a physical document after your application is decided – you might still need to provide biometric information in person, and UKVI will tell you if you need to do this 
• it will be quicker and easier to prove your status at the UK border, and share your status with third parties like employers and landlords 

You can watch a video on what an eVisa is.

How will I use my UKVI account? 

Once you have created your UKVI account you will be able to view the details of your eVisa online, for example your type of permission, when it expires and your conditions of stay in the UK.  

You can update your personal information in your UKVI account, such as your contact details.  

Your eVisa will be linked to your passport in your UKVI account. You must keep your passport or ID card details up to date in your UKVI account and tell ukvi about any changes, so that your immigration status can be easily identified at the UK border. You’ll still need to carry your current passport with you.

How do I get an eVisa and a UKVI account? 

If you have a biometric residence permit 

If you have a biometric residence permit (BRP) that expires on 31 December 2024, you can now create a UKVI account and access your eVisa before the expiry date of your BRP.    

If you have permission to stay in the UK, once you’ve created your UKVI account you will be able to sign in to the view and prove service to access your eVisa. 

If you have a biometric residence card

If you have a biometric residence card (BRC) and you have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme, then you already have an eVisa and you do not need to take any action to obtain one. You can find details of how to access and use your eVisa (your digital status) in your grant letter or email. You should continue to carry your BRC with you when you travel internationally.  

If you have a BRC and you have not been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme, obtained another form of immigration leave, or become a British citizen, then your BRC is no longer valid, even if it appears to still be in date. This is because the UK has left the EU, and the EU free movement law no longer applies.

How can I view and prove my Digital Immigration Status?

To prove your immigration status, you will need to provide a PDF copy of your Share Code to UCL. If you are a new student, you will to provide this information as part of the pre-enrolment task on Portico. If you are a current student, you can upload this PDF to the Visa and ID upload function on your Portico homepage. UCL will then use this information to verify your immigration status, and save a copy of this verification to your student record. 

You will be able to generate a sharecode from the View and Prove Government webpages Access your digital status and generate a share code selecting ‘Start Now’. Please ensure you choose the purpose of the check as ‘other’ instead of ‘work’ or ‘rent’, as these codes will not work to check your status.

An example of what the sharecode will look like can be found below. Your sharecode will be valid for 3 months. 

Link

Keeping UCL up to date

If your visa is due to expire before your studies have finished, you are required to provide UCL with evidence of your pending visa application and your new visa once it is received.  This evidence must be provided to UCL before your current visa expires.  You will receive email reminders of your impending visa expiry starting 3 months before your current visa expiry date.  If you do not provide either evidence of a pending visa application or a new visa before your current visa expires, UCL will be forced to de-register you from your programme and withdraw sponsorship of your Student visa.

 You can use the Visa Document Upload function on your Portico homepage to upload copies of your immigration documents.  It is very important that UCL has up-to-date copies of your immigration status and it is your responsibility to update us with any changes.

Updating your UKVI account

You should keep your personal details and passport or travel document information up to date. You should update your UKVI account if you change your:

• passport or travel document
• name
• mobile phone number
• email address
• home address
• postal address

You can also:

• correct your date of birth
• add or change a nationality, for example if you have dual nationality
• add another passport or travel document
• change your photo, for example if your appearance has changed and you cannot be recognised from your current photo

Correcting an error on your visa 

You should report an error if:

• your eVisa details are wrong - for example it’s showing the wrong date of birth or immigration status or length of leave.

Checking your eVisa 

• To view and check your eVisa you will need to create an eVisa account.  Please see the UKVI eVisa webpage for details on how to do this.

Course dates and visa expiry dates

The expiry date of your visa depends on the length of your course. You can find your course end date in your original Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) email.

Use the following guidelines to check your visa expiry date is correct.

Please refer to the information above on correct visa expiry dates and follow the guidance below if you need to correct any errors. 

Correcting an eVisa error

If you think there is an error on your eVisa, you must report an error with your eVisa (Gov.uk) online.  You should be contacted by email within 10 days by UKVI.

Travelling with your eVisa

Before you travel to the UK with your eVisa you should make sure:

• Your eVisa shows the correct details
• Your UKVI account has your most recent passport and personal details
• You get your share code because your carrier or a border official may ask for it
• Your details match the passenger information you give to your carrier