Britain begins issuing ID cards for foreigners

Wednesday 26th November, 06:40 AM JST

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soldave at 10:05 AM JST - 26th November

And so project 1984 continues.

rjd - what are you talking about? I take it you've not read any of the articles or editorials about what people think of this scheme, to introduce ID cards to foerigners in the UK and then to all people in the next few years.
Altria at 10:36 AM JST - 26th November

Next thing you know they'll be making a Euro version of the Patriot Act! It's a slippery slope...
Pivot at 12:58 PM JST - 26th November

Frankly, England has been going down down down down down since after the end of colonial rule. Nobody respects what they do anyway, and they are the world leaders of naught. Plus, 30 pounds is a freaking rip-off. That's a nice way to make money off the foreigners.
soldave at 01:07 PM JST - 26th November

Sloppy reporting by Kyodo news. The price is starting at 30 quid but will be increasing in the near future. So people are basically paying so that the goverment can have their details on a national database. And this is going to stop terrorism how exactly?

Pivot - note that it will be implemented for British nationals too. This is not a foreigner-only scheme. Am sure if you read more information about this you will realise that. It also sounds like someone speaking from one of the former colonies there!
rjd_jr at 01:07 PM JST - 26th November

I was being serious, I don't think this is a bad concept at all. Something has to be done about immigration controls and whatnot, great for UK authorities for doing something and not bowing down to political correctness.
bebert at 01:16 PM JST - 26th November

I would be less concerned about I.D. cards for foreigners and more concerned about the vast number of CC-TV cameras on every street using facial identification software and even more insidious software that focuses in on behavioral patterns.
ThonTaddeo at 02:06 PM JST - 26th November

At least the bobbies aren't stopping non-British-looking people (whatever that might signify) and demanding that they show these cards, like a certain Asian nation does.

Foreign nationals in Great Britain only have to possess these cards; they don't have to carry them wherever they go. If Japan went to this system, I'd gladly pay the Y4500 for my alien card. But we all know that Japan will never give up its ready-made excuse for police to harass foreign people.
Eccoman at 03:28 PM JST - 26th November

The UK government is slow and surely - but incompetently - leading the country down the path of becoming a socialistic surveillance state. The Brits' only saving grace could be NuLabour's uncanny ability to screw up everything they touch. ID cards are not a useful tool in stopping criminals and that most nebulous of crimes, "terrorism;" they and the National Identity Register they support merely another form of government intrusion and mismanagement.
bdiego at 03:58 PM JST - 26th November

It's all racist until a Western nation does it.
smithinjapan at 06:41 PM JST - 26th November

Ah, well... this is going to worry a WHOLE lot of Japanese who can't actually speak the English language but got high scores on TOEIC. I remember when the British government brought this idea up a year or two ago and many Japanese companies became extremely worried, with some government officials asking Britain not to implement the measure at the same time as Japan was pushing to have the JLPT test as a requirement for visa extension for 5 years. I think one government official in Japan actually said something like, "Why do WE have to be fingerprinted? We're not terrorists!" or maybe that was when controls became even tighter in the US... I can't remember.

Sorry to stir the pot and make people like rjd_jr angry, but just raising a few points.
skipthesong at 08:38 PM JST - 26th November

May I ask, with the amount of immigration a country like Britain has, why is it so controversal to figure out a way who is in the country and a bit about them? Britain has been swamped with people claiming they political refugees only to find out that they weren't. Last year on the BBC News, the person in charge of immigration couldn't even give a ball park figure as to how many over stays there were. Every country has some type of immigration control but it just seems only when the US, UK, and a few other Europeans want to install a policy, people start screaming xenophobia.

If that is the case, then perhaps drivers should need licenses. Parents shouldn't need birth certificates to prove they are one's parents, teachers, officials shouldn't need certs to prove their skills, and doctors shouldn't have to have a medical degree.

And if you think this proposal is harsh, you need to live in a few South American countries - you'd think different.

smitty, I know you're going to come at me, but I do have a bit of experience in a few countries as well. So, you point, "Japan was pushing to have the JLPT test as a requirement for visa extension for 5 years" I would assume you were pointing it out a discriminatory... in some ways it is and I agree the finger printing of resident Koreans is bad and Japan does need to work on their naturalization policies, but yo, go live in Mexico even for a few months, not as a tourist, go there on business. Then go Colombia, and Chile. Then you tell if Britain is being bad. Oh, for the record, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela (before Bush's second term I can speak of) are fine for foreigners to live and work with moderate immigration.
AlfGarnett at 08:47 PM JST - 26th November

Blimey, about time innit. Swarms of them over here, hundreds of thousands illegaly.

Gordon Bennett it's amazing how many there is.

Don't try and make me carry id Labour Government, it aint war time, nosey parkers
YangYong at 09:43 PM JST - 26th November

Listen, you obviously know nothing about the British; I can not see the government making this role out anything but abject failure. There will be mass civil disobedience. It ain't gonna work.
HaroldSteptoe at 10:18 PM JST - 26th November

This is discrimination. Oh yes, as a advocate of equality these ID cards disgust me even more than my revolting father.

I would refuse to carry an ID card, stuff the law, and i hope foreigners feel confident to do the same.

Big Brother is here, i am totally apalled.
Nippon5 at 09:40 AM JST - 27th November

In the US you have to have a green card, in Japan a Reg card. No big deal. Also in the years I have been in Japan I have never been asked for my ID card at any time other then when I was pulled over in a traffic stop, (and I didnt even get a ticket), so I guess those who say they ask for ID cards from you must be not be in Tokyo area, or are doing something strange_? 6 years and never once asked for Bike reg, nor ID card maybe Im lucky, or I dont act strange? Even when I was driving my lowered GTR..