I'm in the same boat, need to switch my R56 xenons over for a trip to Europe.
On my last car a Golf there was a lever.
On the R56 only the white lever although it does not seem to move, looks like the end of the plastic is designed to have a something put into it to make it easier to change.
Funny thing is if you look at page 96 in your handbook it mentions using a stick on film.
Which I thought was for the standard lights.
But in the index at the back of the book under the heading of Xenons it said to see page 96.
Confused
Is there a BMW/Mini workshop sheet?