Hello Folks! I'm not exactly an expert, but I did just successfully complete my eVisa sign-up and have access to my eVisa now. It is, admittedly, a very 'unofficial-looking' page, but that's not my place to decide! Anyway, I wanted to provide some tips for successfully completing this process, as it's a bit confusing and I've seen people saying they ended up going round in circles. I hope this is useful to somebody.
1. You will receive an email from an automated No Reply address from UKVI that it's your time to sign up for an eVisa. I really recommend doing it ASAP, as BRPs expire in December and it can be so easy to forget to do these kind of admin tasks.
2. In the email will be a link to begin your sign-up process. Click through, and then click the green button to sign up. You will then choose the identification document you want to use to sign up. This is only significant for which document you will scan later to confirm your identity. I chose my passport.
3. You will be instructed to download an app called 'UK Immigration: ID Check'. This app will only be used to confirm your identity. Warning: iPhones of any make (7 and upward) struggle a LOT with this task. I had to use a friend's Samsung device to get this to work. You will need to use your phone to scan your identification document for the RFID chip inside of it. The chip can be in different locations on different documents, but on BRPs and US passports it seems to be on the BACK of the document. You will then scan your face (flashing lights warning) and take a basic 'passport-style' photo. After this is successfully done, you will be told that you can continue via your computer, I highly recommend this. They will tell you to follow the link you were given via email.
4. This is very important:
THE LINK YOU NEED TO CONTINUE IS NOT THE SAME AS THE STARTING LINK. You will receive an email with the subject line 'Your UKVI account has been created'. In THAT email is the link to the dashboard (you must sign in again using your document and a security code). From there, you will see that 'ID Check' is now marked as Complete, and you can continue. This is the part that I think is tripping people up, as they are going back to the initial sign-up link.
5. From there, fill out all the information required of you in each category. Each new category will become available as you complete the previous one. This is much more straight-forward than the ID Check portion.
6. Once complete, you will see a confirmation screen alerting you that you will receive an email when your eVisa is ready. It doesn't come straight away... I had to wait about an hour. You can now delete the ID Check app, should you so choose.
7. You will receive an email with the subject line 'View Your eVisa'. From there, you can click the link in the email to view your eVisa at any time. This eVisa is directly connected to your legal identity and all documents related to that identity (passports, BRPs, vingettes, etc). You can also generate a code for employers as needed.
I hope this was helpful! I also got lead around in circles for a little while because I was going to the wrong link and it took 3 different phones to scan my document successfully. I wish you the best of luck, let me know if you were successful like I was in getting your new eVisa!
