UK eVisa and share codes: how Australians prove their status in London

Your UK visa is no longer a card in your wallet. It's an online record, and if the login breaks, so does your proof that you're allowed to be here.

The short version

• An eVisa is the digital record of your identity and immigration status. You see it through a free UKVI account, and it has replaced physical documents like the old biometric residence permit [2].
• Employers and landlords check your status with a share code plus your date of birth. A code lasts 90 days and can be reused until it expires [1].
• Got a new Australian passport? Add it to your UKVI account before you fly. Airlines check the eVisa against the passport you travel on [4].
• You need a National Insurance number to be paid properly, but you can start work before it arrives if you can prove your right to work [6].
• You can only apply for an NI number once you're in the UK, and it can take up to four weeks after you've proved your identity [6][7].

What an eVisa is (and why it's a bigger deal than it sounds)

In Australia, your visa status is a record in the Department of Home Affairs system. Nobody hands you a card, and employers check it through VEVO. The UK has now moved to the same idea. An eVisa is the online record of your identity, your immigration status and its conditions. You get one after any successful visa application, including the Youth Mobility Scheme and UK Ancestry visa [2].

The difference from home is how often you'll be asked to prove it. In London you'll show your status when you:

• start a job (a right-to-work check)
• rent a flat in England (a right-to-rent check)
• leave and re-enter the UK
• sit the Life in the UK test later on, if you go for settlement

Setting up the account and viewing your eVisa is free. Anyone charging you for "eVisa registration" is not the Home Office [2].

Setting up your UKVI account

You may already have an account without realising it. If you used the UK Immigration: ID Check app when you applied, or got a UKVI account confirmation email, don't create a second one [3].

What you need

• A phone number and email address you'll keep. You'll use them every time you sign in [3].
• Your valid Australian passport plus your visa application number (the GWF or UAN reference) [3].
• A smartphone to confirm your identity through the app. If that's not possible, there's another way to confirm identity [3].

How long it takes

Once the account is linked to your eVisa, access is usually immediate, but it can take up to 24 hours [3]. Do this before you leave Australia. Sorting it out with a jet-lagged brain in a Clapham flatshare is worse.

Partners and kids

Each person needs their own UKVI account, including children joining you. A parent can create and manage a child's account using their own contact details, then hand it over when the child turns 18 [3].

Share codes: the code your boss and landlord want

A share code is how someone else checks your eVisa without seeing your whole account. You generate it inside your UKVI account, choose what it's for, and give it to the other person along with your date of birth [1].

A code is valid for 90 days and can be used as many times as needed in that window. You're told exactly what the other person will see when you generate it [1].

When a code won't generate

If you can see your eVisa but can't make a share code, or your date of birth or status is wrong, use the report an error service. Don't just keep trying [1]. For anything else, UKVI runs an eVisa webchat, and there's a separate account recovery service if you're locked out [4]. The GOV.UK contact page for UKVI also lists phone help for status problems; check it for current numbers and hours, as they change.

Getting a new Australian passport? Update UKVI first

This is the trap that catches Australians most. Your eVisa is linked to the passport you used to apply. Renew it at the Australian High Commission or online, and the UK system doesn't know unless you tell it.

The rules are simple [4][5]:

• You must travel on a valid passport that's added to your UKVI account. You can add more than one.
• If you have a biometric passport (all current Australian passports are) and only the number, expiry, name or nationality changed, you can update it yourself, even from overseas.
• Your details must match exactly what you give the airline.
• You can't change your passport details while a visa application is waiting for a decision [5].

Updating a passport, step by step

1. Get your new Australian passport, and keep the old one until the update has gone through.
2. Sign in to the Update your UKVI account service with your current passport details and the phone or email on your account [5].
3. Choose to add a passport or travel document, then enter the new details.
4. Check your eVisa shows the new passport before you book.
5. Book flights using the exact name and passport number now on the account.
6. Generate a share code before you leave, just in case.

If your name changed, for example after marriage, you'll need a document proving the change [5].

When the system fails at the border

Your eVisa is checked when you check in with the airline, and again by Border Force or the eGates on arrival [4]. If your details don't match, the airline may not let you board, and you may be delayed at the UK border [4].

What to carry when you fly home for Christmas:

• A share code generated in the last 90 days. Border staff can use it as extra proof [4].
• Your old physical documents, if you have them. A settlement sticker or stamp in an old passport still counts [4].
• Screenshots of your eVisa and the confirmation that you've added your passport. They're not official proof, but they help when you're explaining things at a check-in desk in Singapore or Dubai.

If your carrier can't check your eVisa, they're meant to contact the UK Border Force carrier support hub [4]. Ask them to, politely but firmly.

Before any trip, look at the Smartraveller advice for countries you'll pass through. For a lost passport overseas, the nearest Australian embassy handles replacements. You'll then need to add the new passport to UKVI before flying back to London.

Getting a National Insurance number

The National Insurance (NI) number is the UK's version of a tax file number, with a dash of Medicare number. It tracks your tax and National Insurance contributions, which count toward the UK State Pension and some benefits. Your employer needs it to pay you correctly.

You might already have one

If you have an eVisa, you may already have an NI number. Check by viewing your eVisa before you apply [6]. Many visa holders find one is already listed there.

Applying, step by step

1. Check you're eligible. You must live in the UK, have the right to work, and be working, looking for work or have a job offer [6].
2. Be in the UK. You can only apply from inside the UK [6].
3. Apply online on GOV.UK. Have your passport ready [7].
4. Upload photos of yourself holding your passport, plus your ID, taken on a smartphone. Someone else can take them [7].
5. Watch your email for a reference number and any request for more proof of identity [7].
6. Wait. It can take up to four weeks after you've proved your identity [7].

Start work anyway

You can start work before your NI number arrives, as long as you can prove your right to work [6]. That's what the share code is for. Give your employer the number as soon as you have it, or you may pay too much tax in the meantime. Our UK tax guide covers emergency tax codes if that happens.

HMRC's National Insurance numbers helpline for England is 0800 141 2079, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm [7].

The Australian side

Your NI number doesn't replace your tax file number. Keep your TFN, and tell the ATO if you've stopped being an Australian tax resident. The UK and Australia don't have a social security agreement, so UK National Insurance doesn't count toward an Australian Age Pension, and Australian residence doesn't count toward a UK State Pension. If you're staying long term, keep an eye on your UK contribution record online.

Quick checklist for new arrivals

Stuck on an error message nobody else seems to have seen? Join Cooee UK, our Facebook group for Australians in the UK. Odds are someone posted the fix last week.

Sources

1. eVisas: access and use your online immigration status – GOV.UK
2. Using your UK Visas and Immigration account – GOV.UK
3. Set up a UKVI account – GOV.UK
4. Travel with your eVisa – GOV.UK
5. Update your UKVI account – GOV.UK
6. Apply for a National Insurance number – GOV.UK
7. Apply for a National Insurance number: how to apply – GOV.UK

Keep reading

• UK Youth Mobility and Ancestry visas for Australians
• UK tax for Australians in London: PAYE, tax codes and the treaty
• Moving to London from Australia: the complete guide
• Renewing your Australian passport overseas