I think I am wrong!
I LOVE being wrong at times like this.
My next application will be for a SET(M) and it appears that the cards will be issued only to FLM(S) and FLM(M) applicants.
Hooray!
Hooray for being wrong!
Today I read that this time next year I am going to be an ID card holder. That the UK Border Agency is going to collect my biometric data, including my finger prints (which can't be done here in Nottingham, mind. Looks like Sheffield will be the closest office for me to attend), and that I will be issued with a micro-chipped card. And that I will need this card to re-enter the UK if I travel abroad, along with my passport.
I am filled with an overwhelming sense of dread. The UK government has already proven an abysmal track record for data protection, and it terrifies me that some numpty fucker could potentially ruin my life if they happen to have a bad day and delete a system, lose a file or cross-pollinate my file with someone elses.
I am terrified that rather than this card proving who I am, it's going to be susceptible to the kind of errors which could cause authorities to doubt who I say I am. One mistake, and their system could tell them I am someone else entirely. What then? They're not going to believe me over the system, are they?
This is horrifying.
you're gonna burn, you're gonna burn....
-
I noticed, about halfway round my run this evening and some nine days after
Bonfire Night, that the big charity bonfire in Wilford was finally out. It
was...
2 hours ago
7 comments:
This is very, very bad indeed. Can you get a British passport before then? Surely there's a way to split your loyalties? Or is that a worse prospect?
I think this says it all really:
http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/cartoon_3853.html
You have to be in the UK for 3 years as a spouse before getting a passport.
I'd be interested to see if there was a way one could bypass registration on the ID Card. For now, it only applies to Foreign Nationals outside of Switzerland and the EU.
Sarah, even though I have now resolved that I wont be needing the ID card, the answer to the 'splitting the loyalties' question is yes, I can have dual citizenship after three years of wedded bliss, so only two years to go on that front. Next year I apply for Settlement (unlimited leave to reamain) and if I wanted I could just stick with that, but it is a phaff at various borders when I have to fill in an entry card and queue elsewhere to LB. Once I was asked if I was travelling with my husband, which I was, and she asked me where he was in that kind of "Well, where is he then?" sort of way. I told her he is British, had queued elsewhere and was, at that point, waiting on the other side of the border for me. And she looked annoyed by this. Like, really annoyed, and asked me to point him out. The Border Control attitude here of guilty until proven innocent can wear a bit thin after a while...
I can imagine it is - indeed - a pain. Will be interesting to see how LB is treated when he visits your homeland (though I imagine as a tourist his experience won't be a fair comparison?).
How absolutely terrifying. Is there the potential for a hacker to access this information, making your life an even greater hell should something go wrong?
This is an interesting interpretation of the whole issue : http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/09/26/why-labour-voters-ought-to-think-again/
A classic exmaple of policy being made up without consideration for the implications, largely on the spot.
I'm glad you don't need to get a card. How scary!
When I went to London a few years ago, there were all sorts of questions about why I'd visited the UK 3 times in 5 years! (As though the idea that I like visiting was completely out of the question.)
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