Biometric ID cards mandatory for Americans in U.K. more than 90 days

ByABC News
March 6, 2008, 11:08 AM

LONDON -- Americans studying in Britain for more than three months will have to have biometric ID cards starting later this year.

Within three years, Britain's Home Office said Thursday, all Americans and other foreigners from outside the European Union will have to have the cards to work and live here.

U.S. tourists and businessmen and women who visit Britain for visits under 90 days will not need them.

But those seeking visas to marry a Briton and live here will have to have the cards starting in November, just like students, to prove who they are and that they are here legally.

About 250,000 Americans live in Britain, the U.S. Embassy in London has estimated. It's unclear how many Americans come to study each year.

British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced the requirement as she unveiled a new timetable for encouraging everyone, including British citizens, to carry the cards as a tool for combating identity theft, terrorism, illegal immigration and benefits fraud.

"We're all better protected if we can be confident that other people are who they say they are," Smith told the BBC.

Smith said British citizens working in airports and other areas vulnerable to terrorist attacks will have to carry the cards starting next year. She said she expected most Britons to have them by 2017.

She insisted that it wasn't mandatory to carry the cards all the time, but suggested doing so would be a convenience.

In addition to containing a digital photo, the cards will contain data that can be read electronically and matched against a computerized National Identity Register that will retain a cardholder's fingerprints and personal information.

The ID card program has been controversial, with many privacy advocates and political opponents of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labor government saying they are too intrusive and the government has no business keeping personal data on its citizens. It also has been plagued by delays in technology and rising cost estimates.

Foreigners' ID cards, which will be about the size of a credit card, will contain a digital photo and details of the cardholders' immigration status, whether they are allowed to work, receive government benefits and how long they can stay. It also will contain a "biographic footprint" of personal history and "biometric data" such as fingerprints on the cardholder.