What's the problem?
Monday the Government posted a whitepaper with a raft of proposals for controlling immigration. These included the announcement that the government plans to tackle illegal workers in the gig economy by using “eVisas and modern biometric technology to support our Immigration Enforcement raids”.
In a separate the paragraph, the white paper says that: “The transition to eVisa has been successfully providing a significantly better end-to-end experience for individuals throughout their entire journey – from proving their immigration status, to living, studying or working in the UK.”
There is a lot of evidence that refutes this outrageous claim – including the fact that five months after the scheme was supposed to launch, some migrants are having to use expired documents because of the Home Office’s failings.
Here are some of the key problems with eVisas:
Data errors: People can’t correct incorrect or old information. This can have a devasting impact - ORG has heard about a man who was made homeless because of a date error in his e-visa account.
Technical errors: Many people still cannot access their eVisas after they have set up an account. For example, some people have found that their eVisa account does not recognise their names on their passports (which are identical to the ones on their eVisa accounts), locking them out of their eVisa account.
Lack of support: The average waiting time for the Home Office’s resolution centre calls can reach 120 minutes. The Helpline for migrants in airports can't provide technical support or speak directly to staff from airlines.
Harms to refugees: A year after the rollout and seven months after reporting the problem, refugees still can't link their travel documents to their eVisa account, as the system gives them an error message due to the differences in their documents.
This flawed scheme cannot be used to inform immigration raids.
Why write to your MP?
If eVisa data is used for immigration raids, we will see a human rights disaster like the Windrush scandal, where people are incorrectly deported. Hundreds of you have written to Seema Malhotra the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, who is aware of the probelms. We now need you to write to Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for the Home Department, so she knows that relying on eVisas will lead to a Windrusch scandal. Please ask your MP to write to the Minister and request that flawed eVisa data is not used to inform immigration raids and to provide offline alternative for people to prove their immigration status when the eVisa is not working.
