Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) are now issued globally to overseas applicants who apply to enter the UK for more than 6 months on any type of work visa. These have replaced the vignette in the migrant's passport (previously issued to migrants applying from overseas to enter the UK). In the past BRPs were only been issued to applicants who applied for a visa whilst living in the UK.

For those individuals already in the UK applying to extend or switch their visa the existing process whereby the BRP is posted to the individual at their home address will continue - there will be no requirement to collect their BRP from a Post Office.

For individuals applying to enter the UK, the issuing of a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) is a 2 stage procedure:

1. A migrant will be issued with a temporary 30 day vignette in their passport which will enable them to enter the UK.
2. Within 10 days of arrival in the UK, the migrant must collect their BRP from a designated Post Office Branch in the UK.

The location of the Post Office from which an individual’s BRP must be collected will depend upon the post code of the address that they provide in their visa application (whether it be either a personal address or the departmental address). For the majority of staff coming to the University of Warwick, they will be able to collect their BRP from the central Post Office in Coventry:

West Orchards Shopping Centre
(located within WH Smiths)
Smithfield Way
Coventry CV1 1QX

The only other Post Office near to the University offering this service is in Leamington Spa.