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Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, on 25 November 2008 we issued the first identity cards for foreign nationals through regulations made under the UK Borders Act 2007 to applicants granted further leave under student, marriage and partnership categories. The regulations will enable the UK Border Agency to expand the rollout of identity cards to new categories. These amendment regulations are designed to allow identity cards for foreign nationals to be issued to additional categories of foreign nationals seeking either to extend their stay in the UK or transferring evidence of their limited leave into a new passport or travel document. The regulations will continue to apply to those covered by the 2008 regulations, but we have updated the student categories to reflect the launch of tier 4 of the points based system, for students, at the end of this month. Introducing compulsory identity cards for foreign nationals to those who are subject to immigration control is a component of the national identity scheme. At the heart of this scheme is a simple ambition to use biometric technology to fix the identity of an individual. Using the powers in the Act, we have been able to lock a migrant to a single identity and provide them with a secure and reliable immigration document. By checking fingerprints against our centrally held records, we have been able to find out whether we have seen an applicant before under a different identity and/or nationality; such as a failed asylum seeker who has now returned to the UK and is passing themselves off as a student from a different country. This is evidenced by the fact that since 25 November 2008 we have successfully prosecuted three foreign nationals attempting to or having obtained leave by deception. Several other applications are currently under investigation and we expect similar results, and other applications for leave have been refused as a result of a failure to disclose information relevant to their application. In addition, these regulations enable the UK to comply with European Regulation (EC 380/2008), which requires the residence permits that grant leave to remain to be in the form of a card containing the biometric features of the holder. In July last year, the House approved the Immigration (Biometric Registration) Regulations 2008, which enabled the UK to launch its identity card for foreign nationals. To date, the rollout has largely run smoothly, with the majority of successful applicants receiving their cards within a week of being notified that their application for further leave was granted. Those who are required to enrol their biometric identifiers can do so at any one of the network of offices around the UK. We are investigating expanding enrolment facilities to other locations across the country. The card is already benefiting holders who have used it in a variety of ways, including applying for driving licences, opening bank accounts and as proof of age in licensed premises. I will briefly set out the categories to which these regulations apply. The rollout categories cover the existing marriage and partnership applications to extend leave, updated student categories, and include a small number of immigration categories that fall outside the points based system, which attract relatively small numbers of applicants. Starting with academic visitors, the regulations apply only to those who are already in the UK and are applying to extend their leave as an academic visitor beyond six months. As with all these categories, this will enable the UK to comply with EU regulations. Visitors receiving private medical treatment in the UK, who need to extend their stay to complete their treatment, will also need to apply for the identity card. We have also included domestic workers in private households under these regulations. That category concerns overseas domestic workers who have accompanied a person entitled to live in the UK, and who subsequently apply to extend their stay here based on that employment. The next category covers those applying to extend their leave under UK ancestry rules, which includes people who are Commonwealth citizens, have a British grandparent and can demonstrate a link with the UK. The penultimate category relates to retired persons of independent means; this category is no longer open to new applicants, but a person who is already in the UK under it may extend their leave on the same basis. It applies to persons aged over 60 with substantial means to support themselves. The final category covers those overseas employees recruited by an overseas company to act as their sole representative in the UK. The requirement to apply for an identity card will again apply to those seeking to extend their stay in the UK. Where Immigration Rules allow dependants to join the applicant, the biometric regulations will also apply to them. Your Lordships may, perhaps, note that postgraduate doctors and dentists are covered by these regulations. Those applicants are not currently required to enrol biometrics, but this category of the Immigration Rules will be deleted at the end of March as we introduce the points-based system and the student tier 4 within it. From the end of the month, postgraduate doctors and dentists will, along with all other tier 4 applicants, be required to apply for leave to enter or to remain under that tier and, as part of their application to extend their stay in the UK, to apply for an identity card. In addition, the requirement to apply for an identity card will apply to those with existing limited leave who are applying to transfer immigration documents into a new travel document or passport. That will enable holders of less secure documents to upgrade them to the identity card. Those applications are usually made when a person with leave has to replace an old passport, or if they had no travel document into which their vignette could be placed when originally applying for leave and, therefore, received their status document attached to a letter. Those applying to transfer their conditions of leave will have to apply for an identity card and enrol their biometric features irrespective of the type of leave they hold. The other changes that these regulations make to the 2008 regulations include lowering the age that determines the date on which a biometric immigration document ceases to have effect. That is now in line with UK passports, so that where a card is issued to a person aged 16 or over, its validity period will be no longer than 10 years. We have also brought in two additional requirements where the Secretary of State may require the surrender of an identity card. The first is intended to be used when a foreign national who enters the UK produces an identity card, but not their passport; the other applies to holders who have demonstrated that they are a British citizen and no longer required to have an identity card for foreign nationals. In addition, the regulations enable the Secretary of State to cancel the card in those circumstances. We have also tidied up Regulation 19 in the current 2008 regulations, so that persons whose cards are cancelled as a consequence of them being British citizens are not subsequently required to apply for an identity card. Finally, we have introduced a saving regulation to ensure that any identity cards under the previous regulations are not affected by Regulation 5 of the amending ones. These regulations build from the previous biometric registration regulations, as I stated, which reflects our approach to rolling out identity cards incrementally. We believe that they are proving to be a useful tool in tackling illegal immigration and other identity abuses. We consider that they support those who are staying in the UK legally, and form part of our wider national identity scheme. When we intend making further inroads to the categories of foreign nationals who are required to apply for an identity card, we will return to Parliament and seek further approval. This is what these regulations seek to achieve and I commend them to the House for its support. I beg to move.