Home Office agrees deal with French firm for visa services
A French company, Sopra Steria, has been awarded the contract to manage the government’s immigration service after Brexit.
Last Thursday, immigration minister Caroline Nokes announced the deal, worth £91 million, that aims to deliver a streamlined, digital application service for people applying for a work or study visa, settlement or citizenship from within the UK.
Applicants will be able to submit all of their evidence, including their photo, fingerprints, and signature at a single appointment, at centres within their local community, including at 56 local libraries.
Individuals will also be able to upload files digitally before their appointments. Their information will then be copied and sent on to UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI). It is hoped that that will mean that important documents like passports can be retained by their owners rather than by UKVI while applications are being considered.
‘The new streamlined service will make the visa application process quicker and easier to access than ever before for people in the UK, through increasing the use of digital services,’ Nokes said.
This latest news is one in a series of multi-million pound outsourced agreements that have been struck with private tech firms in preparation for Brexit – even though the negotiations about the terms themselves have not been concluded.
Last month, the Home Office confirmed a £10m partnership with Accenture. Their new asylum and immigration service will replace the current system, that was already unsuccessfully overhauled to the tune of £347m.
And earlier in the year, the Home Office admitted that a new mobile phone app, designed specifically for the three million EU citizens in the UK to register their ‘settled’ status after 2020, will not work on iPhones.
Under the current arrangement, applicants must fill in a 85-page permanent residency document, and it is hoped that a mobile app would shorten the process to 20 minutes, during which people should be able to scan their passport and enter their National Insurance details online.
But Maike Bohn, spokeswoman for EU citizens campaign group the3million, expressed doubts that the system will be glitch-free.
She said: ‘If someone is refused because of one mistaken click they can instantly lose their right to live and work in the UK, with disastrous consequences. There is a technology problem and there is a people problem – we need to make sure as much care goes into supporting the users than will no doubt go into developing a good app.’
