UK watchdog urged to probe GDPR failures in Home Office eVisa rollout

Civil society groups led by the Open Rights Group have asked the UK ICO to investigate the Home Office’s digital-only eVisa scheme, alleging systemic data errors, inaccessible design, and inadequate risk assessment in its DPIA that expose migrants to privacy breaches and denial of essential services. The letter highlights a documented wrongful disclosure of personal data, lockouts from eVisa accounts, risks tied to facial image usage, and the lack of a non-digital fallback despite a “digital-by-default” framing, especially impacting vulnerable and digitally excluded users. The ICO confirmed receipt of the letter and will assess the concerns.