ID card rollout begins

[Roland Perry]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7634111.stm

"The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU 
students and marriage visa holders."

"The Border and Immigration Agency will begin issuing the biometric 
cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are 
most at risk of abusing immigration rules - students and those on a 
marriage or civil partnership visa."

"Both types of migrants will be told they must have the new card when 
they ask to extend their stay in the country."

But if you have a "marriage visa" (I've never heard it called that 
before) it is in the form of "permanent leave to remain", and doesn't 
actually need to be 'renewed'.

Perhaps they are referring to the process by which that leave to remain 
is evidenced in the person's passport, and needs transferring to a new 
passport (something that used to be done on the nod, but now requires a 
special process and a fee).

Finally:

"They've basically picked on a group of people who have no possibility 
of objecting to the card - they either comply or they are out."

There's a third course of action - apply for citizenship, which people 
in this situation have been doing in droves over the last year, partly 
as a reaction to the recent difficulty of getting passport stamps 
transferred. Hmm, I wonder if the new ID card is "permanent", or will 
that need re-newing every 10 years too?
-- 
Roland Perry