eVisa letter doesn't look right, but is expected - for Mum

YBR

My mother has just received a letter about applying for an eVisa before her Biometric Residence Permit runs out. She reports it as not looking official, being addressed to "the occupant"/ "Dear sir/madam", on very cheap paper and generally not what you'd expect. Does anyone have experience that matches this? Might it be a scam?

Mum can't do the things needed with a smart phone to get through the online process without help, we set up an account and tried to go through previously but (I can't remember the details) we couldn't complete it because there was some code needed, or not-on-the-database. This is why a letter was expected (no code on the letter). She lives too far away for a visit to be trivial - I don't expect to see her until Christmas - but the deadline is the end of the year. Any advice?

Her context is that she moved here from Australia and married over 50 years ago and has only been back for visits. She has indefinite leave to remain from when the rules were very different and had some stamp in her previous passports. When the Windrush scandal blew up and BRPs were free she fitted the conditions and got one, just in case, or she wouldn't be in the system at all.

tomtom256

Common sense would be to ring the official number and check. I would have thought it woud be addressed to the actual person that needs to apply, along with any necessary codes etc they would need as part of the process.

Brie

I keep looking at this process myself but have not received any correspondence as I'm not on any immigration database.  Which is why I need to get it sorted I guess.....will try to post back if I see anything relevant.

Brie

is mom good enough with her phone to take a photo of the letter and send to you by email?  then you could report further?

YBR

Brie said:

is mom good enough with her phone to take a photo of the letter and send to you by email?  then you could report further?

Probably not, but I can ask.

TELLIT01

Cheap paper doesn't mean it isn't official.  It's a few years since I retired from DWP but at that time they were using recycled paper which was definitely a long way from being white.

Muttleythefrog

The Home Office are notorious for imitating fraudsters in their communications to the point of even throwing immigration lawyers and cheap paper also can be common... when my wife got her NiNo letter from the DWP it was so poor quality when she used it as a proof of address to a company they slapped COPY all over it and rejected it so government departments can be offenders for this. The system is moving online from manual BRP so the nature of the matter is timely and meaningful - unfortunately fraudsters also pick up on timely issues to target people. The reality is likely that she does indeed need to get her BRP shifted to new online system and somehow someone with her will need to get through the process in the link below... there is a chat option for assistance which you may be able to help her use or use yourself to explain the difficulties faced. As minimum though hopefully she can get a neighbour to photograph and email you the letter.

As an aside she probably would be eligible to apply to naturalise as a British citizen... it costs and takes time.. administratively usually not too difficult but sounds like it could be here... but removes you from any BRP requirements and thereafter instead you'd likely apply for a UK Passport. Probably not a meaningful option of future if not already taken up but worth mentioning in case anyone else reads.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/online-immigration-status-evisa

Brie

my biggest personal complaint about this whole move to e-visas is that so many people don't know it's happening.  I only know about it as a friend told me.  So I'm wondering what happens if in January me (if I haven't done anything by then) or lots of others who are completely unaware are travelling out and back to the UK?  Would we get stopped by immigration?  

as an aside - I think it might have been the naturalisation process that I started to look at and it wanted me to list every time I'd been out of the country since I first entered.  An absolutely impossible task as the only place to look would be in old passports that haven't existed for ages.

YBR

Muttleythefrog said:

The Home Office are notorious for imitating fraudsters in their communications to the point of even throwing immigration lawyers and cheap paper also can be common... when my wife got her NiNo letter from the DWP it was so poor quality when she used it as a proof of address to a company they slapped COPY all over it and rejected it so government departments can be offenders for this. The system is moving online from manual BRP so the nature of the matter is timely and meaningful - unfortunately fraudsters also pick up on timely issues to target people. The reality is likely that she does indeed need to get her BRP shifted to new online system and somehow someone with her will need to get through the process in the link below... there is a chat option for assistance which you may be able to help her use or use yourself to explain the difficulties faced.

As an aside she probably would be eligible to apply to naturalise as a British citizen... it costs and takes time.. administratively usually not too difficult but sounds like it could be here... but removes you from any BRP requirements and thereafter instead you'd likely apply for a UK Passport. Probably not a meaningful option of future if not already taken up but worth mentioning in case anyone else reads.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/online-immigration-status-evisa

@Muttleythefrog @TELLIT01 Thanks, it is reassuring that this not unusual for HM's Government!

I don't think Mum would be interested in being a British Citizen, especially given the cost and time but you are right that it is an option for some. I know she already has a UKVI account as we tried to get her the eVISA in the summer. Hopefully we can get a step further when we next try.

@Brie If you've been settled in the UK long enough, this might be what you're looking for: 

https://www.gov.uk/windrush-prove-your-right-to-be-in-the-uk

Mum got her BRP under this scheme (or the then iteration of it circa 2016-20) I don't recall her having to prove when she travelled but maybe she did. I don't think anyone disposed of anything old passports so she may well have had some evidence.

michaels

We got comms via email for MIL.  Wife (who has a smart phone but is not the most techy) and MIL were eventually able to get the system to work on a smart phone but they struggled.  MIL would have been clueless on her own.

YBR

michaels said:

We got comms via email for MIL.  Wife (who has a smart phone but is not the most techy) and MIL were eventually able to get the system to work on a smart phone but they struggled.  MIL would have been clueless on her own.

If I may ask, how recently did your MIL come to the UK, or get a BRP? It feels like the system is stacked towards more recent arrivals, perhaps.