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Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Pilot) Regulations 2008

rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 11 March be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, we are committed to securing the United Kingdom’s borders, improving immigration control and reducing identity abuses as part of our wider national identity scheme. We introduced the biometric registration powers in the UK Borders Act to allow the Secretary of State to issue, in time, secure and reliable biometric documents to all foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. By recording a person’s fingerprints, we can fix them to a single identity and make it possible to check their identity against centrally held records. This will help to strengthen our border security and to combat illegal migration and identity abuses. These powers will also be the way in which we comply with a forthcoming European regulation that will require the UK to issue a biometric card whenever it grants a foreign national leave to remain. We will roll out the identity cards from the end of November 2008. The cards will confirm the holder’s immigration status and entitlements to work and to access public funds in the UK. The regulations are the first set of regulations to be made under the biometric registration powers in the UK Borders Act, and are designed to enable us to operate a pilot to test the biometric enrolment technology and processes. We will test some of the processes and technology by enrolling the fingerprints and photographs of around 10,000 foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. Under this pilot, the biometric immigration document, which is the technical name for the document issued under the Act, will be issued to those granted leave to remain in the form of a vignette sticker attached inside their passports. This is the same as the one that is currently issued because the pilot is about testing limited biometric enrolment processes and not about testing the actual identity card. I will set out what the regulations are designed to achieve. The first five regulations concern the name of the regulation, the date of the pilot, definitions and the categories of those who are required to apply for a biometric immigration document. The regulations will affect those foreign nationals applying for leave to remain as types of student, spouses, civil partners or unmarried partners under the immigration rules. They will be required to apply for the document, as will their dependants, when making an application in person at the public inquiry office in Croydon, or, if applying by post, if they reside in one of the London postcode areas listed in the schedule to the regulations. It is also provided that the application for leave to remain is made within the period of the pilot. The next set of regulations, Regulations 6 to 9, concern the collection of biometric information. Regulation 6 enables an authorised person to require a person applying for a biometric immigration document to provide a record of their fingerprints and a photograph of their face. Where the Secretary of State already has a person’s biometric information, Regulation 7 allows her to use or retain the biometric information she already has in her possession, rather than requiring the person to come in for a second time to enrol their biometric information where this is unnecessary. Regulation 8 provides safeguards for registering the biometric information of children under 16. In essence, biometrics can be taken from a child under 16 only if a parent, guardian or other adult who takes responsibility for the child is physically present. The processes by which the biometric information may be recorded are set out in Regulation 9. This regulation permits an authorised person to require the person to make and attend an appointment within a specified timeframe and place and to specify any documents that they must bring to the appointment, or action which they must take, to establish their identity. Regulations 10 to 13 are concerned with the use, retention and destruction of biometric information held by the Secretary of State. Regulation 10 sets out the various purposes for which the Secretary of State can use biometric information collected under these regulations. They reflect the purposes contained in Section 8 of the UK Borders Act 2007, but with two additions. Regulations 11 to 13 set out when and how biometric information held by the Secretary of State should be destroyed or access to that information blocked. They are similar to the safeguards in the existing biometrics legislation. Provisions about the issue of biometric immigration documents are set out in Regulation 14. The Secretary of State may issue a document to a person to whom she has decided to grant leave to remain. This regulation also provides that the document has effect from the date of issue, and that it ceases to have effect on the date that the person’s leave to remain ends. Regulation 15 provides for the contents of the biometric immigration document, which for the purposes of this limited pilot is the same as the current vignette sticker attached inside a passport. The Secretary of State may cancel or require the surrender of a biometric immigration document that she has issued. These powers are set out in Regulations 16 and 17. In circumstances where a person is required to apply for a biometric immigration document and fails to comply, Regulation 18 will enable the Secretary of State to refuse to issue a biometric immigration document, to disregard the person’s application for leave to remain and to refuse the person’s application for leave to remain. This could be, for example, where the person refuses to give his biometrics when required to do so. Once a person has complied with a biometric registration requirement his or her application will continue to be considered in line with normal immigration processes. Postal customers will be informed of their immigration decisions by post and those who have successfully applied for a premium same day service will continue to receive a decision on the day of their appointment. I am pleased to have brought these regulations before noble Lords today. It is essential that we run the biometric registration pilot to enable a successful introduction of the identity card for foreign nationals later this year. The rollout of identity cards is part of our strategy for tackling illegal migration-associated abuses arising from such activities. I beg to move. Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 11 March be approved. 14th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord West of Spithead.)