ID cards catch first victim

Failed asylum seeker arrested after applying for foreign national ID card

Smith: ID scheme is working

The government has claimed that the National Identity Scheme has secured its first victory after an illegal immigrant was caught applying for a foreign nationals' identity card.

Ranjit Singh, a 33-year-old Indian from Caddington in Luton, was applying to stay in the country on the basis of a common-law relationship with a Brtitish citizen, but a fingerprint check showed that he had previously made a failed asylum application with a false date of birth.

He was arrested and charged with the offence of seeking leave to remain in the UK by deception and appeared before Solihull Magistrates on 9 December where he pleaded guilty.

Singh was remanded in custody until 8 January 2009 when he will be sentenced at Warwick Crown Court.

“This case shows that the scheme is already working, and that with tough enforcement by UK Border Agency officials, those who don’t play by the rules will be caught out,” said home secretary Jacqui Smith.

Foreign nationals across the country began to apply for identity cards this month after they became obliged by law to carry the cards.

All new foreign nationals and those extending their stay will have a card within three years and the Home Office estimates that by the end of 2014/15 about 90 per cent of all foreign nationals in the UK will have been issued with one.