ID card rollout begins

[Roland Perry]

In article <C6F343320DAC194BA010FD66AD493623391750@home.usermgmt.local>, 
David Biggins <David_Biggins@usermgmt.com> writes

>
>Another quote from the article...
>
>"The card cannot be issued to people from most parts of Europe because
>they have the right to move freely in and out of the UK"
>
>So do we think that there's any significant risk at all of people
>entering other parts of Europe, obtaining false ID there, establishing
>themselves as having the right to move freely in and out of the UK, then
>moving here?

That's the Schengen argument, really. Make it harder to enter 
everywhere, but once you are inside have more freedom of movement. All 
we do (as a state outside Schengen) is bother to check those 
potentially-false IDs when people cross our border, rather than later 
when they are stopped in the street, register their address with the 
police etc etc.

>Still, if they are going to start at all, I suppose they have to start
>somewhere...
>
>My best guess though is that the piecemeal approach to starting this
>probably renders the entire scheme porous for a generation.

The scheme would seem to guarantee that all non-EU residents will get a 
card (with potentially higher status than an EU ID card) within ten 
years, assuming they wish to travel (ie need something better than a 
now-wasting-away stamp in their foreign passport).

As an ID-watcher, I'll be taking an interest in when employers and 
others start refusing to accept the "old" forms of 'visa', even if the 
ten years has not expired.

I'm also wondering if this ID card also replaces the little-known 
"residence card" that non-EEA family members can apply for.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/applyingundereuropeanlaw/

or is this the 'marriage visa' to which the BBC are referring (and not 
the stamp in that person's passport after all).
-- 
Roland Perry