Liberal Democrats perspective on e-Visas

 I've had a response from Layla Moran's office to my email about the government planning to use e-Visas for immigration raids.

"Dear Ray,

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about e-Visas.

As Co-President of The European Movement, Layla is deeply concerned by the growing number of cases where EU citizens have faced severe consequences due to errors or failures in the Home Office’s digital system. As you rightly point out, problems with proving immigration status can affect everything from healthcare access and housing to employment and education, all of which are fundamental rights people should be able to rely on.

We have heard of real-life experiences which highlight a system that is failing in both transparency and reliability, and we agree that this must be urgently addressed. The Liberal Democrats agree with Settled that a status system that leaves people in limbo, unable to prove their right to live, work, or access essential services in the UK, is not fit for purpose.

We believe EU citizens deserve a secure, reliable and inclusive form of proof of status. The Home Office must take urgent steps to restore confidence in the system, including commissioning an independent review into the operation of the eVisa platform and ensuring there are accessible backup forms of status available. Everyone who has the legal right to be in the UK should be able to prove it easily and consistently.

We continue to call for stronger UK–EU relations that go beyond the instability and bureaucracy of recent years, including by supporting Early Day Motion 1318. This EDM welcomes the progress made at this week’s UK–EU Summit, but also expresses concern that there is still much more to be done, not least on restoring people’s mobility rights and addressing the red tape many now face.

We greatly appreciate the work that Settled has done and continues to do. Please rest assured that Layla and her Liberal Democrat colleagues will keep pressing the Government to show greater ambition in resetting our relationship with Europe and to ensure that those who live, work, and contribute to communities in the UK, including long-standing EU residents, are treated with the dignity and security they deserve.

Thank you again for getting in touch.
 

Best wishes,

Office of Layla Moran
Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Oxford West & Abingdon "

 

Government plan to use eVisa scheme for immigration raids

The government has announced this week that the Home Office's flawed eVisa scheme will be used for immigration raids. So I've followed up my email to my MP to alert her to this development. The Open Rights Group are coordinating an effort to make MPs aware and ask for resistance to this scheme.

Dear Layla,

 I wrote to you recently about the Home Office’s flawed eVisa scheme.

 This week, little noticed in media reporting on the Prime Minister’s unconscionable ‘island of strangers’ targeting of immigrants speech, the Government announced that the eVisa scheme would be used to support immigration raids. If this goes ahead, people with the legal right to be in the UK could be deported because of flaws in the Home Office’s systems.

 Since the rollout of the eVisa scheme, the human rights organisation, the Open Rights Group, has heard about travellers stranded at airports, refugees unable to rent a home or get a job, and even a man being made homeless because of a data error. But these harms would pale into significance if eVisa data is used for immigration raids that result in deportation.

 Please will you contact  the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Yvette Cooper and urge her to stop eVisa data from being used for immigration raids and press again for the government to provide offline alternative for people to prove their immigration status when the eVisa is not working.  The seeds of another Windrush scandal have been sown and are sprouting.

 Regards,

 Ray

UK Government should allow physical proof of immigration status

In the face of the failing rollout of the UK government's eVisa scheme, I've written to my MP, again, at the suggestion of the Open Rights Group.

"Of the many failures of the Labour government since coming into power last year, their adoption of Conservative/Reform right-wing rhetoric and policies on immigration has been one of the most egregious.

Please can you take action to help people who are facing serious harms because of the Home Office’s flawed eVisa scheme.

The eVisa scheme was supposed to replace physical documents with online proof of immigration status. But the roll-out of the scheme has been chaotic. Technical and administrative problems mean that many people cannot create or access their eVisa at the crucial times that they need it. Many people are currently having to rely on expired documents to prove their right to be in the UK.

Since the scheme was supposed to come into effect on January 1, 2025 people who have the right to be in the UK have been prevented from boarding planes and had their travel plans disrupted. Refugees have been unable to rent homes or get jobs. At least one person has been made homeless because of an error in their eVisa. There are undoubtedly thousands more people facing such harms – including many of your constituents.

The immediate solution:

The Home Office recently updated its guidelines to allow migrants with legacy paper documents to continue using them. This could be extended to all migrants that have the right to remain in the UK. Having a physical document as a back up will mean that people can prove their immigration status even if they are unable to show their eVisa because of technical glitches or Internet outages. It will also help people who do not have a smartphone or who are not digitally literate.

Please will you contact the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra and urge her to take this simple step to allow people to have an optional physical document to prove their right to be in the UK"