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Biometric identity cards for students

20 March 2008

From 28 April, some students who apply to extend their immigration permission in the UK will have to register their biometric details at the same time. This means that a record of your fingerprints and a photograph of your face, as well as personal information, will be stored in a Home Office database. The UK Government plans to make biometric identity cards compulsory for everyone, but is introducing the requirement in stages, starting with this pilot scheme. You will have to register your biometric details (but you will not be issued with an identity card at this stage) if you apply to extend your immigration permission in the UK under one of the following categories:

• a student or student nurse
• to re-sit an exam or to write up a thesis
• a prospective student or sabbatical officer
• the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the UK
• the unmarried or same-sex partner of a person present and settled in the UK
• a dependant (spouse, civil partner or child under 18) of a person who is applying at the same time under one of these categories

This pilot scheme applies to you only if you live in London and you have a postcode specified in the Schedule to the draft regulations, or if you apply in person at the public enquiry office in Croydon. If you apply in person at Croydon, it does not matter where you live.

You will have to register your biometric details if you meet the conditions above and all the following requirements:

• you are aged 18 or over
• you are not applying as a dependant
• you are making an application only for yourself (without any dependants)
• you are applying in person at Croydon on or after 28 April 2008 or you are applying by post between 28 April and 25 July 2008.

You will also have to register your details if:

• you apply in person at Croydon on or after 16 June 2008 or by post between 16 June and 25 July 2008; and
• you are aged under 18; or
• you are making an application for yourself and for your dependants at the same time; or
• you are applying as a dependant at the same time as your family member applies for permission under one of the categories listed above.

The only information available about the scheme at the moment is contained in draft regulations, so the details might change before the regulations come into force. We will post more information as it becomes available.

For background information, see the UK Border Agency publication:
Introducing compulsory identity cards for foreign nationals.

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