Home Office: Transition to eVisa Fund

Overview

Overview

The Home Office (HO) will offer grant funding up to the value of £3,000,000 to provide direct support to vulnerable customers as they transition from physical immigration documents to eVisas. Successful organisations will be required to provide direct support to vulnerable customers when creating their UKVI account and accessing their eVisa. Organisations will also need to provide support to vulnerable customers who need to share their digital status to prove their rights (e.g. using the ‘View and prove your immigration status’ service) and to maintain their up-to-date information, documents and images using the ‘Update my details service' accessed via their UKVI account.

Summary

The Home Office plans to complete the roll-out of eVisas, which are an electronic record of immigration status accessible via GOV.UK, for most immigration products, by the end of 2024. All Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and most Biometric Residence Cards (BRCs) are due to expire on 31 December 2024, and where these BRP/BRC holders, whose leave extends beyond this date, do not transition to an eVisa before 31 December 2024, they may experience difficulties proving their rights after this date.

For customers to access and use their eVisa, they will need to create a UKVI account, which will allow them to access and maintain their eVisa. 

The Home Office will provide grant funding to organisations, with which they will provide direct support to those vulnerable customers with the most complex needs, when transitioning from a physical immigration document to an eVisa. Successful organisations will be those well-placed to provide trusted, community-based support for vulnerable and hard to reach customers. 

The eVisa transition fund would seek to support a wide range of vulnerable and hard to reach groups, (non-exhaustive list below) in completing their transition to an eVisa, including but not limited to:  

• People with a disability 
• People with severe learning difficulties 
• Adults with severe mental health conditions 
• Victims of domestic abuse 
• People who are rough sleeping, hidden homeless, statutory homeless, in temporary accommodation or at risk of homelessness 
• Older/Elderly people 
• People with poor literacy or English language skills 

Organisations will be required to detail their geographical coverage which will be considered as part of the evaluation. Funding is expected to be distributed through multiple organisations who are geographically spread across the four nations of the United Kingdom.

They will be funding organisations to directly support customers in accessing and maintaining their eVisa.

Lot A – National Support (up to £2,000,000 total funding)

Organisations will provide nationwide coverage across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They are seeking to award funding to a single organisation for each of the four nations. Organisations will deliver direct support that meets the diverse needs of Customers across a wide range of vulnerable groups to assist their transition to an eVisa.

Lot A1  National England

Lot A2  National Northern Ireland

Lot A3  National Scotland

Lot A4  National Wales

Lot B – Community Support (up to £1,000,000 total funding)

Multiple grants (up to a maximum of £30,000 per grant) will be awarded in this Lot forming a network of Community Organisations providing UK-wide coverage and delivering direct support to meet the diverse needs of Customers across a wide range of vulnerable groups to assist their transition to an eVisa. This network will be comprised of individual organisations, multi-organisation consortiums or partnerships that will deliver specialist support for a specific vulnerable group(s) regionally, nationally, or UK-wide. Bidders are only able to apply for a single grant (up to a maximum of £30,000) within this Lot.

Eligibility

The Home Office would welcome a broad range of Civil Society Groups to apply for funding through this grant scheme, which may include but not be limited to the following types of organisations:

• Charities
• Non-Governmental Aid Organisations (NGOs)
• Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs)
• Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs)
• Civic Groups
• Community Foundations
• Community Organisations
• Religious Organisations
• Social Enterprises
• Support Groups
• Community Interest Companies (CICs)

Local authorities are not eligible.

They are seeking organisations that have a minimum of two years’ experience supporting individuals with complex needs.

Organisations will be required to demonstrate their experience and expertise during the grant competition.

They welcome bids from organisations based in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Bids for funding will be welcome from single organisations or multi-organisation consortiums and partnerships. In the case of a consortium or partnership bid, one organisation shall be nominated as the lead and shall have agreement from all partner organisations before bidding (this agreement should be demonstrated in the form of a letter signed by all partner organisations). The Home Office funding will be awarded to the lead organisation and the Home Office will enter into a Grant Agreement with the lead organisation.

Objectives

KEY OUTCOMES

The Home Office plan to complete the roll-out of eVisas, which are an electronic record of immigration status accessible via GOV.UK for most immigration products, by the end of 2024.  

The Home Office aims to ensure the digital process to create a UKVI Account and access an eVisa is accessible for all extant leave holders, including those who are vulnerable or have more complex needs. 

Funded organisations will deliver, and provide evidence of delivering, direct practical support to vulnerable groups of extant leave holders and assist them in accessing and maintaining their eVisa.