How will the new smart card system for asylum seekers work

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A. In spite of much controversy over the introduction of ID cards in the UK, the Home Secretary, David Blunkett announced on 29 October 2001 that from January 2002 anyone applying for political asylum in the UK would receive an Application Registration Card (ARC) on entering the country. This in effect is a smartcard containing photographic and fingerprint data - an ID card. It will also act as a cash card to replace the current, and very unpopular, voucher system. It is believed that the ARC will test technologies for the proposed introduction of ID cards for all UK citizens.

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Q. What do asylum seekers currently have for identification purposes

A. They have standard acknowledgement letter, known as a SAL, allowing them to be resident in the UK - these have come under a lot of criticism as they are often counterfeited. They also receive vouchers instead of cash, that can be used in allocated shops, that total �10 per week. Until the ARC system is introduced in January 2002, vouchers will be increased to the value of �14 per week.

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Q. How does the ARC smart card actually work

A. The implementation of the smartcard technology will allow closer monitoring during all stages of the asylum process - from arrival to accommodation or deportation. Data on the card and the government's central computer system will integrate with fingerprint databases run by the police and other authorities throughout Europe - the Home Office hopes to integrate databases with computers held in other EU countries under an agreement called the Eurodac Regulation, signed by member states in October 1999. The European-wide system is intended to track asylum seekers throughout the EU and to prevent so-called "asylum shopping" where people try to apply for asylum in several countries.�

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The UK's biometric database for asylum seekers is called the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The �3m technology, supplied by French firm Sagem, holds details on more than 370,000 people and allows immigration officers to retrieve data quickly and match fingerprints.

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The new system for processing asylum seekers will cost �250m.

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Q. Which company will develop the smartcards

A. The government has not yet announced who will get the contract to produce the ARC cards - but it will have probably made the decision a while ago if it can get the system up and running in two months. It is believed that Sagem may be in the running as it supplied the Automated Fingerprint Identification System - and some believe that Unisys could be called upon as it has carried out extensive research into biometric identification -using fingerprints and the iris in the eye to identify card carriers.

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Unisys is currently developing a Concierge Card for use in airports - it is a secure optical memory/biometric card that contains all of a traveller's personal identification. The card is still in its conceptual stage but Unisys is currently demonstrating prototypes of the card around the world, especially as the tragedy of September 11 has made governments a lot more security conscious than ever before. The card will enable airport security checkpoints to positively identify airline passengers. At the airport a cardholder will go through an automated kiosk and checkpoint that would take live biometric readings (such as fingerprints or iris patterns) and compare them to the biometric information already stored on the ID card. If a positive match is made, the cardholder is allowed to proceed through the checkpoint.

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Unisys is currently testing a multiple biometric access control kiosk at a U.S. Department of Defence research lab to evaluate selected biometrics and the concept. It is also in discussions to implement or test the system in airports in Europe and Asia. It is believed that the ARC card will operate in a similar way to the Concierge Card - using fingerprint data to identify the cardholder and for that information to correlate with information held on a central database.

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Q. How will the ARC system be introduced in the UK

A. It will be phased in and it is believed it will take all of 2002 for the system to be complete. ARC will be introduced to the Immigration Service's largest office in Croydon, Surrey at the end of January 2002.

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By Karen Anderson