Government to fix ‘broken’ eVisa system used by tenants

Right-to-rent checks will be going online only on the 31st December and Home Office minister Seema Malhotra (main image) has promised that the significant glitches encountered by users checking tenants via the eVisa system will be fixed.

After that date, physical documents will no longer be acceptable as evidence for Right to Rent verification. However, there have been serious concerns expressed by agents and landlords about both the reliability and accessibility of the system.

We have designed our digital services to be highly resilient.”

And privacy campaigners Open Rights Group have been highly vocal about its ‘poor planning and implementation which has resulted in issues with data protection, usability and accessibility as well as ‘countless technical issues.’

When questioned in Parliament by MP Ben Maguire, Malhotra responded by saying the system had been: “Tried and tested over several years, with millions of UK residents already using it to prove their immigration status.”

She then added: “We have designed our digital services to be highly resilient, with rigorous testing to build assurance, and deployed across multiple data centres.

Monitored for failures

She did, though, also say that: “Our online services and their constituent parts are also proactively monitored for failures, which will highlight any potential problems to allow support teams to triage and resolve them as quickly as possible.”

And she admitted that some people, including the Windrush Generation, may have ‘difficulty proving their status’, in the absence of a physical document and that she was committed to ensuring they were properly supported in creating a UKVI account.

“Legacy document holders (such as those with passports containing ink stamps or a vignette sticker confirming indefinite leave to remain) can transition to eVisas by making a free No Time Limit application.”