Biometric Residence Permit: lost, stolen or damaged

Lost, stolen or damaged BRP?

The advice for reporting a lost or stolen biometric residence permit (BRP) depends on your location. Regardless of location you must:

Report the loss or theft of your BRP to the local police and obtain a police reference/lost property report (if relevant).

Contact the Home Office and report your lost or stolen BRP.
Note: As soon as you make the report to the Home Office that your BRP is lost, it will be cancelled, even if you find it shortly afterwards. Therefore, be confident that your BRP card is truly lost before making the report.

If your BRP was lost, stolen or damaged inside the UK

If your BRP is lost or stolen, you must report it to the Home Office. You can be fined up to £1,000 and made to leave the UK if you do not report it.

It is no longer possible to apply for a replacement BRP card from within the UK due to the Home Office's transition to eVisas.

We have received advice from the Home Office that visa nationals should continue to travel with a valid BRP until the end of the year. Therefore, if you are a visa national and need to make urgent travel outside the UK, it is possible to leave the United Kingdom without a BRP card, but to return before the end of the year you will need to follow the process described in the section below. Please be aware that UKVI will not prioritise your application if you have urgent travel plans. You should factor into your decision whether you really have an urgent need to travel as it might delay any return to the UK.

If you are a non-visa national, you should ensure your UKVI account and eVisa has been set up before travelling.

If your BRP was lost, stolen or damaged outside the UK

1. Obtain a report/reference of loss or theft (if applicable)
2. Report online
3. . Apply online for a Single-entry visa to re-enter the UK, costing £154 if you are a visa national or have been unable to set up your UKVI account to access your eVisa.
For 'category of application', select 'A replacement biometric residence permit (BRP) visa'. You will be issued with a vignette that you can use only once to re-enter the UK.

Go to 'Your Biometric Residence Permit'