What the Home Office digital revolution means for HR

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Data sharing between the Home Office, DWP, HMRC and other government departments will revolutionise processes around migrant worker sponsorship. HR must ensure that the data given to these bodies is accurate, writes Jonathan Beech.
Having worked with UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI), under all its different guises, as an employee and customer since 1994, it has been quite refreshing to see this government department shed its antiquated image around data collection and usage as part of the Home Office.
Prior to 1997 there were no application forms, checklists of documents and only very basic information was held in paper-based files, often kept in off-site storage units. Immigration officers sporadically stamped passports on exit from the country so it was difficult to know who was in, or outside the UK. Embarkation stamps were stopped entirely in 1998 and only replaced in 2015 via Advance Passenger Information (API) collection including an Exit Checks Fact Sheet. The problem with this was that passports were not endorsed and unless you strictly kept a spreadsheet of your travels or boarding passes, you may not remember when you travelled.
But now not remembering or providing incorrect information could be getting a whole lot more serious as UKVI progresses through its three-year digital revolution and the way it stores and shares data.
This has been recently highlighted in the high-profile case of Novak Djokovic’s visa cancellation by Australia. Providing incorrect answers or ticking the wrong box regarding travel should not solely be seen as protecting a population from an unvaccinated traveller. Border officers can see this as deception. It is very easy to do and happens regularly.

What’s in store

Throughout the next two years, UKVI will be more efficient with the way it obtains data and how it shares it through implementing the new Immigration Plan. This digital revolution will include automation of data whereby information provided at the pre-entry stage can be stored and re-used for future immigration applications.
The UKVI is also now working much more closely with HMRC, DWP, the NHS and is looking to work with other public service providers. Ultimately, this sharing of data will revoluti