Home · Personal · Legal & Admin · Visas & immigration

PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly replace your UK biometric residence permit.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ityou

What the alternative costsThe supplied data gives no price for a solicitor or immigration adviser, so no price comparison is made.

If this goes wrong: you may follow the wrong current route or submit an inaccurate answer, causing delay or an immigration problem.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice
  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the official GOV.UK website and find the current guidance for replacing a biometric residence permit; keep that page open while you work.
    2. Gather the relevant correspondence, your immigration status details, dates, identity information and any evidence about what happened to the permit, while redacting unnecessary document numbers and passwords.
    3. Paste the relevant GOV.UK page text or its headings into the chatbot, then provide only the non-sensitive facts it asks for.
    4. Ask the chatbot to turn those facts into a document checklist, a list of questions for the official service and factual draft wording, without deciding your eligibility or filling gaps.
    5. Compare every checklist item, route and instruction with the live GOV.UK page, and remove any AI statement that is not supported there.
    6. Complete the official GOV.UK process yourself, upload or provide the requested evidence through the official service, and seek an immigration solicitor or regulated immigration adviser if your circumstances are disputed, urgent or unclear.

    Prompt

    Help me prepare to replace my UK biometric residence permit using only the current instructions on the official GOV.UK website. Do not give legal conclusions, guess which route applies, invent facts, or rely on an old process. Ask me for only the information needed to identify the correct official GOV.UK page, and tell me not to paste passport numbers, biometric details, passwords, full document numbers or other unnecessary sensitive data. Based on the information I provide, produce: 1. the exact GOV.UK page title or search terms I should use, 2. a checklist of documents and information to gather, 3. a list of questions I must answer myself in the official service, 4. draft wording for any factual explanation I need to provide, using only my facts, and 5. a final checklist of points to compare against the live GOV.UK instructions before I submit. Clearly label anything you cannot verify. If my circumstances involve a lost or stolen document, a change of personal details, travel, an expiring status, a refusal, or uncertainty about my immigration position, tell me to obtain advice from an immigration solicitor or regulated immigration adviser. This is not professional advice.

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot access your UKVI account, prove your identity or submit the official application for you.
  • AI cannot reliably determine the correct route when your status, document history or travel circumstances are unusual.
  • AI cannot confirm that a changing GOV.UK process is current unless you compare its answer with the live official guidance.
  • AI cannot take responsibility for inaccurate answers or immigration consequences.
  • AI cannot replace advice from an immigration solicitor or regulated immigration adviser in a serious or disputed case.

What caps this at PARTLY: legal accountability, real time truth and stakes of error.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output2
Inputs2
Verification1
Liability1
Effort delta1
Total7 / 10

FAQ

Can AI replace my UK BRP?
No. AI can help you find the current GOV.UK route, organise documents and draft factual explanations, but you must use the official process and remain responsible for the application.
What information do I need to replace my UK biometric residence permit?
The exact requirements depend on your circumstances and the current GOV.UK process. Use AI to organise your correspondence, status details, dates, identity information and evidence about the missing or damaged permit, then check the resulting list against GOV.UK.
Can ChatGPT fill in my BRP replacement application?
It can help you understand questions and prepare draft answers from facts you provide, but it should not guess answers or submit the application. Enter and check the final information yourself in the official service.
Do I need an immigration solicitor to replace my BRP?
Not every straightforward replacement needs a solicitor, but AI cannot decide that safely for you. Speak to an immigration solicitor or regulated immigration adviser if your status, travel, identity details or reason for replacement is disputed or unclear; this is not professional advice.

Nearby answers

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

The newsletter

AI news, new answers and product picks, straight to your inbox.