Government Authorised Exchange

The Government Authorised Exchange route provides individuals with the opportunity to come to the UK on a temporary basis on Home Office-approved exchange schemes, which fall into four types of programme:

•
work experience—this also includes volunteering, job shadowing and internships
•
training—in the fields of science and/or medicine, or training delivered by HM Armed Forces or UK emergency services
•
research and fellowships—for those on a scientific, academic, medical, or government research

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Latest Immigration News

Immigration weekly highlights—27 March 2025

Welcome to the 27 March 2025 highlights from the Immigration team, which provides links to key news stories from the last week, as well as a round-up of new and updated content in Immigration.

New guidance issued on applying the Biometrics Registration Regulations Code of Practice

The Home Office has published its new ‘Code of Practice about the sanctions for non-compliance with the biometric registration regulations’, further to linked amendments to the Immigration (Biometric Registration) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/3048 (Biometric Regs 2008) made on 27 March 2025, and section 13 of the UK Borders Act 2007. This updated Code of Practice was previously published in draft form, and reflects the transition from physical to digital documents in the form of an eVisa. Key changes include mandatory facial image updates every ten years for adults under 70 (five years for under-16s), the introduction of share codes for status verification, and a comprehensive sanctions framework for non-compliance. For those who fail to update their facial image, and other maintenance breaches, the normal sanction will be preventing the person from creating a ‘share code’ necessary to share their status with a third-party checker. The Home Office has also now issued new guidance for Home Office caseworkers and Border Force staff on applying the sanctions.

Expired BRPs can be used for up to 18 months for various ID verification purposes

Various Home Office guidance documents have been amended on 27 March 2024 to confirm that expired Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and EU Settlement Scheme Biometric Residence Cards (BRCs) can be used for up to 18 months after the expiry date as a valid identity document for verification of immigration status purposes in various interactions with the Home Office, provided the holder still has valid leave. These include opening a UKVI account in order to access an eVisa, using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to make an application, confirming that you are free from immigration time restrictions for the purposes of an application for citizenship, applying for change of conditions to obtain access to public funds, and sitting the Life in the UK test. This follows the coming the into force of amendments to the Immigration (Biometric Registration) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/3048 on the same date, which gives holders of expired BRPs who are under 70 years old a deadline of 18 months within which to replace their ex BRP with an eVisa. Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules is also being amended on 9 April 2025, further to Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 733, to allow a non-EEA national applicant in an EUSS application to use a BRC or BRP for up to 18 months after its expiry as proof of identity and nationality and without having to re-enrol fingerprints. It remains the case that expired BRPs/BRCs can still only be used for travelling back to the UK until 1 June 2025 after which an eVisa will be required.

UKICE analysis looks at HMRC data on migrant employment trends

UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) has published an analysis written by Senior Fellow, Professor Jonathan Portes, which examines new data released by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) indicating that non-EU migration is accelerating job growth in the UK. The new data from December 2024 shows a significant rise in non-EU-origin payrolled employments, up by nearly two million (90%) since pre-pandemic levels, while EU-origin employments decreased by an estimate of 300,000 and the number of UK-origin employments has remained stable.