Immigration Advice

Drop-In Clinic

We have facilitated a drop-in Immigration Advice Clinic at Citizens Advice BCP over the past three years. The clinic is currently on hiatus as we consider changes to how we run it in the future. As such, we don’t have clinics planned yet for the coming months. However, we have an immigration team who are available to help clients with regulated advice in the interim.

In order for us to be able to help you, and to give us proper consent to respond with the advice you need, you should fill in our ‘Get Advice’ form. You can find it by clicking here. Please fill in your details and consents. Once you get down to the ‘Your Enquiry’ section, choose ‘Immigration’ from the drop down and enter details about your issue. We will then respond to you in due course.

eVisas

Most physical immigration documents are being replaced by eVisas. This includes Biometric residence permits (BRPs), Biometric residence cards (BRCs), Stamps in passports, ‘Vignette’ stickers in passports. Getting an eVisa is free and won’t change your permission to live in the UK.

You may have received an email from the Home Office titled ‘Replace your BRP with an eVisa now’.

You’ll need to create a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account before the end of 2024 to access your eVisa. Many BRPs or BRCs show an ‘end date’ of December 2024. This does not necessarily mean that your leave to remain in the UK ends on this date. In many cases, this will be the expiry date of the card only. It’s important to check your Home Office visa decision letter to check whether your leave is ending at the end of 2024. In many cases, you will not need to apply for a new visa on this date – you simply need to prove your leave to remain using an eVisa instead of a BRP or other document.

You can find more advice on eVisas here. You can watch a video from the Home Office about eVisas here.

Please note that holders of Pre-Settled and Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme who are already able to view and prove this status online do not need to take any further steps, as they already have an eVisa (ability to prove their status online.

Citizens Advice BCP will be running sessions to assist people who are struggling to move to digital immigration status. It could be that you do not have access to the technology needed to set up your account, or that you are confused with the process. If you’d like to attend one of these sessions, please fill in our ‘Get Advice’ form. You can find it by clicking here. Please fill in your details and consents. Once you get down to the ‘Your Enquiry’ section, choose ‘Immigration’ from the drop down and enter details regarding your issue. We will then respond to you in due course.

Immigration advice is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Citizens Advice BCP is a regulated provider of immigration advice, and our registration number is N201400112.