The UK’s **digital revolution at the border** accelerates today with the withdrawal of physical visa stickers for most visitor categories. Anyone granted a UK visit visa on or after **25 February 2026** will now receive an only, accessible through their UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) online account and digitally linked to their passport. (ivisa.com)

Applicants must still attend a Visa Application Centre for biometrics, but their passports are returned the same day—ending a long-standing pain-point for business travellers who used to lose their passport for weeks. Travel agents in India, one of the UK’s biggest source markets, say the change is a “game-changer” because clients can now apply for Schengen or US visas in parallel.

Existing visa stickers stay valid until they expire, yet employers should encourage staff to create a UKVI account and confirm their digital status before travelling. The Home Office notes that carriers will gradually move to ‘permission-to-travel’ checks that read the eVisa record directly; mismatched passport numbers could trigger a boarding refusal.

Businesses and individual travellers looking for expert assistance during this transition can turn to VisaHQ. Through its dedicated UK portal the service guides users through each step of the eVisa application, syncs new passport details to existing profiles, and offers real-time status tracking—removing much of the guesswork from Britain’s shift to fully digital borders.