Published: 05 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.
The United Kingdom has long presented itself as a place of opportunity for people from across the world. Yet a major new study now shows that the government’s rush to create a fully digital immigration system is causing widespread anxiety and exclusion among the very people it affects most. Research carried out jointly by Migrant Voice and the University of Warwick paints a troubling picture of stress, confusion and fear as thousands of migrants try to switch to the new mandatory eVisa.
The shift began in 2018, but this year the Home Office declared that almost everyone with leave to remain in the UK must move to an electronic visa. Physical documents such as biometric residence permits will soon disappear completely. For the first time anywhere in the world, an entire national immigration system will exist only online. Ministers describe the change as modern and efficient. Many of those affected describe it differently.
Researchers spoke to forty migrants from different backgrounds and nationalities. Almost all of them reported high levels of worry while racing against tight deadlines to create their digital profiles. One participant explained that the memory of the Windrush scandal still looms large. “I don’t trust the system,” she said, “especially after what happened to the Windrush generation. People’s records simply vanished. If it happened to them, it can happen to me.”
Technical failures appear common. Some people opened their Home Office account only to find their existing status had disappeared. Others received error messages that offered no explanation. Shifting deadlines added to the chaos. Many migrants discovered they had far less time than expected to complete the process. When things went wrong, fixing mistakes proved painfully slow or sometimes impossible.
The consequences reach far beyond paperwork. Without a valid share code generated from the online portal, individuals cannot prove their right to work or rent a home. Several participants lost job offers because employers could not verify their status quickly enough. Others missed flights after airline staff refused to accept digital proof at check-in. One man described arriving at the airport with his phone ready to show his eVisa, only to be turned away because the member of staff had never seen the system before.
Landlords and employers often feel as confused as the migrants themselves. The study found that many frontline workers have received little or no training on how to check digital immigration status. As a result, migrants frequently find themselves in the bizarre position of explaining government policy to the very people who are supposed to enforce it.
Language barriers make everything harder. Although the United Kingdom is home to speakers of hundreds of languages, the eVisa portal and guidance remain available only in English. People who struggle with the language told researchers they rely heavily on friends, community groups and social-media pages run by other migrants. For those with limited digital skills or disabilities, the obstacles can feel insurmountable.
Dr Derya Ozkul, the lead academic on the project at the University of Warwick, warns that the findings should alarm everyone. “We heard story after story of people losing jobs, missing vital travel, and living with constant dread that their legal status might disappear overnight,” she said. “This report shows what happens when a service becomes compulsory and digital-only without proper support or alternatives.”
Campaigners argue that the problems reveal deeper issues with the government’s approach. They point out that the Home Office already faced heavy criticism for the hostile environment policy and the Windrush scandal. Making immigration status dependent on technology that can fail at any moment risks repeating past injustices on an even larger scale.
Some migrants have managed to complete the process without major difficulty, especially younger people who grew up with smartphones and fast internet. Yet even they express unease about the future. One woman who successfully created her eVisa said she still worries about what might happen if her phone is lost or stolen while travelling, or if the Home Office website goes down when she needs to generate a fresh share code.
The Home Office insists that the digital system is secure and convenient once people are used to it. Officials say extra help is available through an assisted digital service for those who need it. However, the new research suggests that many vulnerable individuals either do not know this help exists or find it hard to access.
As the final deadlines approach next year, hundreds of thousands more people will attempt to make the switch. Community organisations report a surge in desperate calls from people who have left it late or hit unexpected problems. The fear is that some will simply fall through the cracks and lose their legal status through no fault of their own.
The University of Warwick and Migrant Voice are calling for urgent changes. They want paper documents to remain available as a backup, proper training for employers and landlords, and a fully multilingual support service. Until those steps are taken, they say, the promise of a modern border risks becoming a new source of exclusion and hardship.
For now, many migrants in Britain are learning that in the digital age their right to live, work and build a life here can hinge on the strength of a phone signal and the reliability of a government website. That realisation, the study concludes, is leaving entire communities living in quiet but constant fear.
