Delays in the delivery of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs)

The Home Office issues Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) upon approval of certain visa applications. A BRP is a physical card which contains details of an individual’s permission to remain in the UK. It is therefore unsurprising that any delays in the delivery of a BRP can cause significant issues for the individual and their prospective employer.

Delays

In the last few months there have been significant delays in the production and delivery of BRPs for applications submitted within the UK. The Home Office advise that once an application is approved, the BRP should be delivered within 7 working days, but recently some BRPs have taken much longer to arrive.

Once a BRP has been outstanding for 10 working days, an online report can be submitted to the Home Office for an update. Usually, the Home Office should respond to the report within 5 working days; however, the Home Office have announced lately that they are experiencing high volumes of requests, and it may take up to 40 working days for them to respond.

Issues

Delays in the delivery of a BRP can cause issues in relation to right to work checks, and they can also prevent an individual from leaving the UK as they will most likely need their BRP in order to re-enter the country.

It is not clear why there are such significant delays in the delivery of BRPs and when these delays will end, but in the meantime there may be alternative options available to those who are waiting for the new BRP.

For example, if your prospective employee is waiting for their BRP and you need them to start working as soon as possible, you may be able to use the Employer Checking Service (ECS) to confirm their right to work in the interim. However, whether this is the appropriate action will depend on the individual’s circumstances. If you are experiencing delays with the delivery of a BRP, Gherson would be happy to help.

How Gherson can assist

Gherson’s Immigration Team are highly experienced in dealing with all aspects of BRP applications. If you have any questions arising from this blog, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice, send us an e-mail, or, alternatively, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to stay-up-to-date.

The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please do not hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.

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