A Biometric Residence Permit was a credit-card-sized identity document issued by the UK Home Office to foreign nationals with permission to stay in the country for more than six months. It showed your photo and personal details on the front and held your fingerprints and facial image on an embedded chip. Every BRP has now expired, and the card has been replaced by a digital record called an eVisa. If you held a BRP and haven’t already done so, the single most important step is to set up a free UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account so you can access your eVisa.
What the Card Was and Who Held One
The physical BRP displayed your full name, date of birth, nationality, photograph, immigration status, any conditions on your stay, a unique document number, and the card’s expiry date. The chip inside stored a digital facial image and fingerprint scans.
BRPs were issued to non-EEA nationals granted permission to enter or remain in the UK for more than six months. That covered work visas, student visas, family routes, and indefinite leave to remain. From 2015, overseas applicants enrolled their biometrics and collected a BRP on arrival instead of receiving a visa sticker in the passport.1GOV.UK. Biometric Residence Permits Anyone granted immigration permission on or after 1 November 2024 was issued a digital eVisa from the outset.
Why Every BRP Expired on 31 December 2024
Most BRPs were deliberately printed with a 31 December 2024 expiry date, regardless of when the holder’s underlying leave actually runs out.2GOV.UK. eVisa Rollout Begins With Immigration Documents Replaced by 2025 Your card can show that date even though your visa or settled status extends for years beyond it. The expiry of the card does not affect your immigration rights.
The replacement is the eVisa, an online record of your identity and immigration status held on Home Office systems and viewed through a UKVI account. Creating the account and viewing your eVisa costs nothing.3GOV.UK. eVisas: Access and Use Your Online Immigration Status As of April 2025, an estimated 300,000 UK residents had still not set theirs up.4House of Commons Library. Replacement of UK Residence Permits With eVisas
What an Expired BRP Can Still Do
The Home Office allows BRP holders to keep using the expired card for certain purposes for 18 months after the printed expiry date.5GOV.UK. Biometric Residence Permits Within that window you can use it to:
- Generate a share code to prove your right to work or right to rent in England.
- Verify your identity through the UK Immigration ID Check app when making a new visa application.
- Create a UKVI account for the first time.
What you cannot do is travel on it. The grace period allowing expired BRPs for international travel ended on 1 June 2025 with no further extension.4House of Commons Library. Replacement of UK Residence Permits With eVisas Anyone entering the UK now relies on their eVisa and a valid passport. Keep the expired card anyway, because it stays useful for the other purposes above until the 18-month window closes.
Setting Up Your UKVI Account
Without a UKVI account you cannot view your eVisa, generate a share code, or prove your status digitally. Setting one up is free, and you do not need to wait for an invitation email from the Home Office to start.4House of Commons Library. Replacement of UK Residence Permits With eVisas
To create an account you need a phone number and email address you can use each time you sign in, plus one of the following to link the account to your immigration record:6GOV.UK. eVisas – Set Up UKVI Account
- A valid passport and your visa application number (a GWF or UAN reference).
- A valid passport and your BRP number.
- Your expired BRP card, usable for 18 months after the printed expiry date.
Once the account exists, you confirm your identity through a smartphone app. If you don’t have a valid passport, an expired BRP, or access to a smartphone, an alternative verification method is available.
Proving Your Status With a Share Code
The share code has replaced the BRP as the standard way to prove your status to employers, landlords, and service providers. You generate one through the Home Office’s online service and pass it to whoever needs to check your status.7GOV.UK. Prove Your Right to Work – Get a Share Code Online
Sign in using your UKVI account credentials, your expired BRP number, or your passport details. The code lets an employer see what work you’re allowed to do and how long your permission lasts. Landlords in England use the same system for right-to-rent checks. Codes expire after a set period, so you generate a fresh one whenever someone needs to verify your status.
For NHS access and other public services the mechanics can differ. Hospitals and GP surgeries may check your status directly through Home Office systems rather than asking for a share code, though carrying your UKVI account details is still sensible.
Traveling Now That the Card Is Gone
Airlines and border officers check your status digitally, so the passport you travel on must be the one linked to your UKVI account. If you’ve renewed your passport since your eVisa was set up, link the new document to your account before you fly. The Home Office runs an online service for this. When your name and nationality haven’t changed, you upload a photograph of the new passport from a smartphone. Watch the “issuing country” field: it should be your country of nationality, not “UK,” even if the passport was issued by your country’s embassy in the UK. Entering the wrong country causes the upload to be rejected.
If your name or nationality has changed, you use the UK Immigration ID Check app to scan the biometric chip in the new passport.8GOV.UK. Using the UK Immigration ID Check App If your document has no biometric chip, you post it to the Home Office instead. Refugee travel documents cannot currently be linked to UKVI accounts, though they remain valid for travel on their own.
If Your BRP Was Lost or Stolen
You must still report a lost or stolen BRP to the Home Office even though the card has expired. Failing to report it can result in a fine of up to £1,000 and potential removal from the UK.5GOV.UK. Biometric Residence Permits The chip contains sensitive personal data, and the Home Office needs to flag the card as compromised.
You can no longer apply online for a physical replacement. The old replacement service has been shut down and directs users to the eVisa system.9UK Visas and Immigration. Replace a Paper Immigration Document With an eVisa Where a replacement is granted in limited circumstances, the fee is £19 on the current schedule.10GOV.UK. Home Office Immigration and Nationality Fees If you are outside the UK and your BRP was lost or stolen before you could return, you may need to apply for a single-entry replacement BRP visa at a cost of £154 to re-enter the country.11GOV.UK. Home Office Immigration and Nationality Fees Once back, the priority is your UKVI account rather than another physical card.
If You Have an Older Paper Document Instead of a BRP
Holders of ink stamps in passports, vignette stickers, or Home Office letters also need to move to an eVisa. For most, the route is the same free UKVI account.4House of Commons Library. Replacement of UK Residence Permits With eVisas
There is one significant exception. If your permanent residence is documented by a stamp or sticker in an expired passport, you cannot simply set up a standard UKVI account. You go through a separate “no time limit” application. The Home Office no longer requires you to submit documents proving your travel or residence history for this application unless official records show you have been outside the country for more than two continuous years at some point.4House of Commons Library. Replacement of UK Residence Permits With eVisas For a permanent residence sticker in a current, non-expired passport, switching to an eVisa isn’t compulsory, though employers and landlords increasingly rely on the digital system, so the sticker can still cause friction in everyday life.
When Your eVisa Shows the Wrong Information
The transition has not been smooth. The Home Office acknowledged widespread issues with the eVisa rollout at the end of 2024, and the original hard deadline was pushed back twice. Some users have found their accounts display incorrect status or lock them out entirely, and in serious cases people have lost jobs, housing, or been unable to re-enter the UK because of errors in their digital record.
If your eVisa shows incorrect information, contact the Home Office through the UKVI resolution centre. In practice, some errors have only been fixed after individuals threatened or began legal proceedings. A High Court ruling confirmed that people affected by eVisa problems can bring judicial review challenges to compel the Home Office to correct their records, particularly in urgent situations. Don’t wait once you spot an error, because the longer incorrect data sits in the system, the more likely it is to cause problems when an employer, landlord, or border officer checks your status.