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In November 2008, the UKBA started issuing identity cards to various non-European foreign nationals living in the UK, and in December 2009 it introduced voluntary identification cards for British, European Economic Area and Swiss nationals.

The national identification card will only be issued to British citizens. Job applicants may present the card to employers for identification and work authorization verification purposes, in lieu of presenting either: (1) a passport, or (2) a birth certificate and a document containing a National Insurance number. Similarly, an identification card issued to EEA and Swiss nationals (and, in extraordinary cases, to British nationals) can be presented in lieu of a job applicant’s national passport or identity card.

However, some EEA nationals from the European Union’s 10 “accession states” have no automatic right to work in the UK and employers must also check whether those applicants:

• have registered with the Home Office (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia);
• have been granted a work authorization (Bulgaria and Romania); or
• are exempt from the accession regulations’ requirements.

The two IPS-issued cards are not the same as the compulsory identity card for foreign nationals (ICFN), which the UK Border Agency is introducing for a range of categories of migrants from outside the EEA. The ICFN can also be used as evidence of the holder's right (or lack of a right) to work in the UK.

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