Home Office
 Printable version
|
 E-mail this to a friend
|
First identity cards issued to foreign nationals in Sheffield
For the first time, foreign nationals in Sheffield can enrol for identity cards containing their facial image and fingerprints, the Home Secretary announced during a visit to the city today.
ID cards will securely lock foreign nationals to one identity and help businesses crack down on illegal working.
Biometric enrolment for the cards - which involves individuals having their digital photograph and fingerprints recorded - will take place at the UK Border Agency's Vulcan House building. The Home Secretary opened the building today and met some of the 1,900 staff working there.
The Home Secretary also met staff working on the new Australian-style points system for migrant workers - which also operates from the new building. The points system is the UK's tough new measure for managing migration to the UK.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"What I have seen today demonstrates that we are successfully delivering two of our most important changes to the immigration system - ID cards for foreign nationals and the points system.
"ID cards will give employers a secure way of checking a migrant's right to work and study in the UK and help people prove they are who they say are. The points system will ensure that only those we need - and no more - can come here to work.
"Staff at Vulcan House are leading the way in implementing what is the biggest shake-up to the immigration system for a generation - ensuring Britain has one of the fairest systems in the world."
Later in the day the Home Secretary joined South Yorkshire Police to witness first hand the positive impact of neighbourhood policing and the growing involvement of communities in the fight against crime.
Visiting Sunnyside Community Centre near Rotherham, the Home Secretary joined a community meeting between the police and local residents who were establishing policing priorities for the area and discussing the introduction of crime mapping. Meetings like these are just one of the ways that the public can tell their local police what they expect from them.
South Yorkshire Police will implement the Policing Pledge by the
end of the year. This will give local people a stronger voice in
setting local police priorities and the means to challenge their
local force if they are not getting they service they expect. For
the first time the national Policing Pledge gives the public a
clear minimum standard of service, including:
* in addition to
emergency calls, that the police would be with them within an hour
in response to calls about agreed neighbourhood priorities where
police attendance is required;
* the right to meet with their
local team and others in the community to agree priorities and
action to tackle them at least once a month and an entitlement to
crime mapping;
* information on specific crimes and
information about what happened to those brought to justice in
their neighbourhood; and
* that neighbourhood policing teams
will spend at least 80 per cent of their time visibly working on
behalf of the public in their neighbourhood.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"The public are our strongest weapon in tackling crime and I passionately believe that empowering them to get a good deal through the Policing Pledge will play a powerful role in driving up the quality of policing for our citizens and in our communities.
"I'm pleased that South Yorkshire Police Force have been working towards delivering the Policing Pledge for their public by the end of the year. For the first time, the public will know the minimum standard of service they should receive and I look forward to all forces making the same, visible commitment to their local communities."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The UK Border Agency published 'Introducing Compulsory Identity Cards for Foreign Nationals' in March, it can be found at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/managingourborders/compulsoryidcards/IDcards/foreignnationalsforidcards.pdf?view=Binary
2. The first identity cards are being issued to people making applications to remain in the UK as a student or based on marriage. All new foreign nationals coming to the UK for more than six months and those extending their stay will have a card within three years and it is estimated that by the end of 2014/15 about 90 per cent of all foreign nationals will have been issued with one.
3. Tier 1 of the points system, for highly skilled migrants, was introduced in February this year and Tier 4, which covers students, will follow in early 2009. Tier 3, which covers low skilled routes, is suspended and will only be used if specific shortages are identified that cannot be filled from the UK's domestic or European labour force.
4. The ID cards enrolment process has caught a number of illegal immigrants; for example an illegal immigrant applying for a marriage visa was detected and convicted of seeking to obtain leave to remain by deception and sentenced to 8 months prison.
5. For any employer who breaks the rules and employs foreign nationals who have no right to work in the UK, the outcome is clear - huge fines are already being handed out by the UK Border Agency. This year's much tougher enforcement campaign has already issued over 1000 fines worth around £10 million.
6. The new system is flexible - allowing us to raise or lower the bar according to the needs of the labour market and the country as a whole. Had Tier 2 of the system been in place last year there would have been approximately 12 per cent fewer people coming here through the equivalent work permit route.
7. The Policing Pledge is part of a radical programme of reform set out in the Policing Green Paper earlier this year. Other reforms include removing all but one central target imposed on police forces - to increase public confidence that the police and other agencies are dealing with local crime and anti-social behaviour priorities.
8. All 43 police forces across England and Wales have signed up to deliver the pledge for their communities by the end of the year.
