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Abstract
On 27 May 2010, the newly formed UK Coalition government announced the cancellation of national identity cards for UK citizens. Yet, foreign nationals remain subject to a separate biometric identity card scheme—renamed ‘Biometric Residence Permits' (BRPs)—currently being rolled out to various categories of migrant. To date, over 300,000 such cards have been issued to various foreign-national groups, including international students, visiting scholars, entrepreneurs, investors and domestic workers. Although research has been conducted on UK immigration policy, there has been little investigation into how foreign nationals view, experience and negotiate BRPs. In this paper, we draw on our own empirical work to examine the impact of BRPs on migrants. From March to December 2010, interviews and participative research were conducted with the Home Office, the UK Border Agency, advocacy and civil society groups, Higher Education Institutions and individual migrants. We consider the extent to which this scheme acts as a means of exercising surveillance and control over foreign nationals, and the ability of these migrants to negotiate around such constraints.
Notes
1. The European Economic Area (EEA) comprises the 27 countries of the European Union, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
2. An interview at a UKBA Public Enquiry Office revealed that the biometric data taken from foreign nationals on enrolment for BRPs are, in effect, kept indefinitely.
3. The UKBA is an agency of the Home Office. It was formed on 1 April 2008 following a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency, UKvisas and some functions of HM Revenue and Customs.
4. Details of fees can be accessed via the UKBA website at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/, last accessed 7 September 2011.
5. UKBA interviewee, October 2010.
6. The requirement for the capture of fingerprints from six years of age is included in EC Regulation 380/2008. This Regulation states the number of fingerprints (two) required to be taken by member-states. The UK government elected to go beyond this by capturing all ten fingerprints (Liberty Citation2010).
7. UKBA interviewee, October 2010.
8. UKBA interviewee, May 2010. The DVLA is an executive agency of the UK Department for Transport. It holds records on 43 million drivers and 36 million licensed vehicles (DVLA 2010).
9. Interviewee, HE industry body, September 2010.
10. One student reported that his card was not recognised when he was asked to provide proof of identification to buy alcohol at the local supermarket; another interviewee stated that his card had caused the authorities some confusion when he produced it in another EU country.
11. This is in spite of assertion by the UKBA that a BRP can help to ‘make life easier for the BRP holder' (Home Office 2010: 12).
12. The department in question was Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). This data loss was revealed in November 2007—see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566stm, last accessed 7 September 2011.