Blitz Bureau
LONDON: Millions of migrants have been urged to register for a new eVisa scheme as campaigners warn the document could create a digital Windrush scandal.
The Windrush scandal began in 2018 concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries, as members of the “Windrush generation”, named after the Empire Windrush, the ship that brought one of the first groups of West Indian migrants to the UK in 1948.
Replacing biometric system The eVisa scheme, which will be introduced at the end of the year, is designed to replace physical biometric residence permits that show proof of the right to reside, rent, work and claim benefits with digital eVisas, The Guardian has reported.
On September 18, Open Rights Group published a new report that raises concerns that people who have the right to be in the UK will be unable to prove it, owing to flaws in the eVisa’s design, rollout and implementation. The report’s authors call on the government to halt the scheme before it comes into effect on 1 January 2025. The Open Rights Group report comes as the Home Office is urging those who need an eVisa, to prove they have a right to be in the UK, to register as soon as possible.
Officials say that they are providing £4m support to a range of organisations, including the Home Office contractor Migrant Help, to assist vulnerable people who may struggle to obtain an eVisa without assistance.
The new digital visa is part of the government’s plans to digitise the UK border and immigration system. Many physical immigration documents such as a biometric residence permit (BRP), for those with indefinite leave to enter/remain, or biometric residence card (BRC) to prove their immigration rights, now need to be replaced.
There is particular concern about the 200,000 people in the UK who have legacy documents proving their right to be here, and who are expected to first apply for a BRP and then apply for a UK visas and immigration account.
