Check your documents

The first and most important letter you will get is your asylum decision letter from the Home Office. This letter is called Determination of Asylum Claim. The letter confirms that you received a positive asylum decision and the date this decision was made. This is an important date to remember. If you have a solicitor the Home Office will usually send this letter to your solicitor.

BRP is issued by the Home Office when you get leave to remain in the UK. The card confirms your identity, right to study and right to any public services or benefits. Check if all the details on your BRP card are correct. If your BRP details are incorrect contact your solicitor who can fill out the Home Office online form to correct your BRP card.

The BRP date of issue may not be the same date that your leave to remain was granted. When asked what date you were granted leave to remain, this will be the date on the asylum decision letter.

Your BRP will have a 31.12.24 expiry date. This does not mean that your leave to remain expires on this date. It only means that the physical BRP card will expire on that date as the Home Office plans to replace physical BRP cards with online proof of leave to remain from 01.01.2025. It is important that you are aware of the actual date your leave to remain will expire. You will find the expiry date on your asylum decision letter. Make sure you remember this date. Don’t follow the BRP expiry date printed on your BRP card.

An eVisa is an online record of your leave to remain. eVisas will replace all physical BRP cards by 01.01.25. This means from 01.01.2025 you will no longer need a physical BRP card. You will access your immigration status online. You will need to create an UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account to access your eVisa online. This account will allow you to use the online view and prove your immigration status service and generate a code to share with agencies such as banks, benefit departments, employers. Please note updating your physical BRP card to an eVisa does not affect your leave to remain. Make sure you are aware of the actual date your leave to remain expires. You will find the expiry date on your asylum decision letter.

If you have a biometric residence permit (BRP) that expires on 31.12.2024, the Home Office will contact you over the next few months to tell you how to create a UKVI account and access your eVisa before the expiry date of your BRP.

If the Home Office has not yet contacted you about creating an account, you don’t need to do anything right now. You will be able to create your account and access your eVisa later in 2024. Find out more about eVisas: Online immigration status (eVisa) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

If you are receiving weekly payments on your ASPEN card from the Home Office, you will get a letter from the Home Office telling you the date when your ASPEN card payments will stop. Make sure to withdraw all the money before that date. After that date the card will stop working.

If you are living in asylum support accommodation, you will get this letter from Mears who is the accommodation provider in Scotland. The letter will let you know that you have to move out of your asylum support accommodation following a positive asylum decision. The letter will state which date your accommodation support will end. Without this eviction letter you won’t be able to progress the homeless process of moving out of your asylum support accommodation and into the local council accommodation.

Proof of identity (ID) means a document that can verify that you are the person you say you are. The document usually will show your name, date of birth, photo or other information that belongs to you. Acceptable ID documents could be a current passport, BRP card, travel document, driving license or UK birth certificates.

Proof of address means a document that can verify your current address in the UK. It should contain your name, current address and be issued by a recognised organisation for example official letters from the Home Office, your GP, tenancy agreement, UK bank statements, utility or council tax bills with your name on.

You will need documents to prove your identity and address to access many services in the UK for example to open a bank account or apply for benefits. As a new refugee you may not have enough documents at hand to prove your identity and address. This may be harder during the move-on period when you have no fixed address and may be waiting for your BRP to arrive. However, you don’t need all these documents to start applying for things. For example, you can apply for benefits if you have your asylum decision letter confirming your leave to remain. You don’t need to wait for your BRP card. The way you prove your identity and leave to remain using a physical BRP card will change soon after eVisas replace all BRP cards by 01.01.2025. Find out more about eVisas: Online immigration status (eVisa) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).