The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) published one ruling this week, banning a marketing drive from national insurance application help company Nino Apply.

An email sent on 29 November 2024, with the subject line “Your BRP Card expires next month”, was challenged by a complainant due to the misleading nature of the ad.

They questioned the ad on two points. The first was that the campaign was misleading about the stated consequences of failing to renew a Biometric Residence Permit, physical documents used before 31 December 2024 that could confirm a person’s identity, right to study and right to public services.

After 31 December 2024, they were to be replaced by eVisas.

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According to the watchdog, the ad’s statements such as “Don’t Lose Your Right to Stay in the UK” and “without immediate action, you risk losing your legal right to live and work in the UK” could be understood to mean that the permit holders right to UK residency would stop when the card expired. However, for the majority of Biometric Residence permit holders, this was not the case.

The second point raised by the complainant was the ad could be considered misleading as it omitted the fact that eVisa’s could be obtained through the UK government’s website for free.

Nino Apply responded to the regulators concerns stating that it had stopped any marketing drives that matched the complaint.

The ASA ruled that the ad breached rule 3.1 (Misleading advertising) of the CAP Code (Edition 12).

“The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Maki Online Services Ltd t/a Nino Apply to ensure that they did not mislead consumers by misrepresenting the consequences of not renewing an expired document,” the ASA said.

“We also told them to ensure that it was clear to consumers where a product such as an eVisa could be obtained for free via the official website.”