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Identity cards for foreign nationals


This page provides information on our plans to introduce identity cards for foreign nationals. We will start to issue cards to some foreign nationals from 25 November 2008. This information will be updated as more details become available.

Why are we introducing the identity card?

Picture of the front of a sample identity card for foreign nationals.The identity card for foreign nationals is the first part of the national identity scheme and will be phased in over the next three years for all those coming to the UK for more than six months or extending their stay in the UK. From 25 November 2008, we will start issuing compulsory identity cards to foreign nationals who apply for an extension of their stay in the United Kingdom as students or as the husbands, wives or partners of permanent residents. This will help keep our borders strong, and will provide additional protection against illegal immigration and illegal employment.

Picture of the back of a sample identity card for foreign nationals.Identity cards for foreign nationals will build on existing safeguards which strengthen our borders, such as checking the fingerprints of people who apply for a visa to travel to the United Kingdom, our border force, and introducing new technology to count people in and out of the country.

From 25 November 2008, we will take an applicant's fingerprints and photographs at seven centres (Croydon, Sheffield, Liverpool, Solihull, Cardiff, Glasgow and Armagh) around the United Kingdom as part of the process of deciding whether someone has the right to stay in the country.

We have tested our process and technology with a three-month pilot in which around 10,000 applicants in the student and marriage or civil partnership categories had their fingerprints and photographs (biometrics) taken as part of their application.

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How will the foreign national identity card be used?

The card will help to combat illegal working and reduce illegal immigration to the United Kingdom. It is a very secure way to provide evidence of the holder's nationality, identity and status in the United Kingdom. It will help public agencies, employers and educational establishments to more easily understand the migrant's entitlements. It will also enable holders to confirm their identity, immigration status, and right to work or study and access public services.

Under our new points-based system, colleges, employers and others who benefit from migration must be licensed to sponsor skilled or temporary migrants coming to the United Kingdom from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. Businesses that employ illegal  migrant workers may face civil penalties, fines or even a prison sentence.

Employers will be required to check the card to ensure the person is entitled to live and work in the United Kingdom if they wish to establish statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty.  For more information about this, see Checking identity cards for foreign nationals.

If migrants travel outside the United Kingdom during their time here, they will also need to show the card together with their national passport at the port or airport when leaving the United Kingdom as well as at any overseas port or airport before starting a journey back to the United Kingdom, and again when they enter this country, to prove they are allowed to return to the United Kingdom.

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Who will receive the card from November 2008?

From 25 November 2008, we will start issuing identity cards to foreign nationals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland who are given permission to extend their stay in the United Kingdom as:

We will continue to put a sticker (vignette) in the passports of other applicants and both systems will run alongside each other as we phase in identity cards for other foreign nationals over the next few years. Our roll-out strategy Introducing Identity Cards for Foreign Nationals, published in March 2008, details the roll out strategy for foreign nationals, starting to issue them to those who apply for permission to enter or stay in the United Kingdom. By 2015, we expect 90% of nationals from outside the EEA or Switzerland will have an identity card.

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