Click to play videoLondon: For those planning to go to UK, it seems your passport, visa, driving licence or a work ID is not enough for Britain. The government is now introducing biometric identity cards to boost security and it'll be compulsory for all foreign nationals from outside the EU countries from November 2008.
The British government plans to introduce identity cards with biometric information. Come November 2008, all foreign migrants from Non-EU countries will have to get an ID card. This includes professionals like Ridhika Batra.
Ridhika says, “I see it as an infringement of privacy and civil liberties. It isn't a comfortable feeling from a foreign national's perspective. “
The card will have basic information like name, photograph, gender, date of birth and nationality.
A microchip will link to a database holding a person's fingerprints and up to 50 other personal details. The government says this will boost national security, prevent illegal work and tackle identity fraud.
Civil liberty groups say there is more at stake.
NO2ID General Secretary Guy Herbert says, “Our concerns are that there is a national ID register essentially a means for government to index throughout their own life commonwealth tradition not the slaves of the state, which this makes us.”
There are concerns about the safety of the data given the recent loss of crucial information from Government offices.
After foreign migrants, next year the scheme will extend to workers in high-risk areas such as airports.
Students will come into the ambit in 2010 and a year later new passport applicants will have to get one. The government hopes that by 2017 everyone in Britain will have an ID card.
While the government says an ID cards will be safe and convenient, many still think it is unnecessary and intrusive. With an estimate cost of over £5 billion, it’s not cheap either.
The debate is not over yet but it seems that foreigners especially from outside the EU countries will have no choice but to get their identities on plastic.
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