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Identity cards for foreign nationals

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 between now and April 2011 for everyone extending their stay in the United Kingdom or coming to the United Kingdom for more than six months.

On 25 November 2008, we began issuing compulsory identity cards to all foreign nationals given permission to extend their stay in the United Kingdom as students, as the spouses and partners of permanent residents, or as the dependants of applicants in these two categories.

Since 31 March 2009, more categories of applicant have been required to apply for an identity card as part of their immigration application. A full list of the application categories affected is contained in the applicant category table, which can be downloaded from the right side of this page. 

Applicants are required to provide their biometrics (fingerprints and photograph), which are checked against existing records and then stored on the UK Border Agency systems and on the microchip card. This helps 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 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.

We have opened biometric enrolment centres around the United Kingdom to enrol biometrics as part of the process of deciding whether someone has the right to stay in the country.

Before we went live in 2008, we tested our processes and technology with a three-month pilot in which around 17,000 applicants and their dependants in the student and marriage or partnership categories had their fingerprints and photographs taken as part of their application. Those successful during the pilot were issued with a vignette (sticker) in their passports. 

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How is the identity card for foreign nationals used?

The card helps 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 helps public agencies, employers and educational establishments to understand the migrant's entitlements more easily. It also enables holders to confirm their identity, immigration status and right to work or study, and to access public services.

Under our new points-based system, colleges, employers and others who benefit from migration must be licensed to sponsor students and skilled or temporary workers 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 prison sentences.

Employers are advised to check the identity card to make sure that the holder is entitled to live and work in the United Kingdom, if they wish to establish a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty. For more information about this, see Checking identity cards for foreign nationals and preventing illegal working.

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

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Who receives the card and when?

On 25 November 2008, we started 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 in certain categories. Since 31 March 2009, identity cards have also been issued to applicants in some other categories.

Our applicant category table, which can be downloaded from the right side of this page, contains a full list of the categories of applicant who must now apply for an identity card when they apply to extend their stay in the United Kingdom.

We will continue to put a sticker (vignette) in the passports of other applicants, and the two systems will run alongside each other as we introduce identity cards for other foreign nationals over the next few years.

Within three years, everyone who successfully applies to extend their stay in the United Kingdom, or who comes to the United Kingdom for more than six months, will have an identity card for foreign nationals. By 2015, we expect 90 per cent of nationals from outside the EEA or Switzerland to have a card.

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