How smart is the 'smart' card?

Vouchers are out, "smart" cards are in

New applicants for asylum in the UK are being issued with "smart" identity cards. Will this technology ease their lives or, as some fear, see political refugees snooped and spied upon?

Asylum seekers will soon open their purses and wallets to retrieve cash rather than the much criticised government-issued shopping vouchers.

However, the ending of the voucher system - damned as "degrading, differentiating and discriminatory" by Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes - will leave room in their pockets for something potentially as controversial - a "smart" ID card.

No one else in the UK has to carry these cards. Will they be used to keep track of refugees?

Asylum Aid spokesperson

Details about the cards have been vague and refugee pressure groups say they have been kept in the dark about how the scheme will actually work.

Indeed, it was initially thought they would be used as a "cash card"-type replacement for vouchers, whereas the cards are primarily a form of identification.

But the reticence of the Home Office has aroused suspicions. Some fear the computer chip contained in the card could be swiftly employed for more controversial ends should the government rethink its asylum policy.

Many are now asking what other data will be placed on the card's chip and who will be allowed access to it.

More convenient?

"We worry that it could be the thin end of the wedge," says a spokesman from Asylum Aid. "No one else in the UK has to carry these cards. Will they be used to keep track of refugees?"

Some fear the cards will be used to track refugees' movements

The card will not have to be presented to police officers on demand, but this could change, the spokesman says.

Since 1991, all those lodging an asylum application in the UK have been given a Standard Acknowledgement Letter (SAL).

This paper document has proved a flawed form of identification - not least because it can quickly become tattered after and worn.

The ease with which they can be forged has also contributed to unscrupulous landlords creating fictitious asylum seeker tenants for whom housing benefit can be claimed.

'Phantom tenants'

A 2000 Audit Commission report said such scams were rare, but when they have identified the individual value ranges from £240,000 to £500,000.

ID cards should help crack down on fraud

It's hoped that the plastic card replacing the SAL will help curb these phantom tenants and prevent asylum seekers lodging multiple applications to remain in the UK - often mistakenly.

Duplicate applications are as annoying for asylum seekers as they are for the bureaucracy which processes their claims. The potential the new card has for speeding up the process has been broadly welcomed by refugee groups.

However, Asylum Aid is concerned that the new regime may operate too fast for confused refugees battling to master English.

The SAL - which bore an expiry date - could not be easily undated. Mere possession of the form, valid or otherwise, told officials very little about the status of a refugee's asylum case.

Like wearing a badge?

A quick swipe of the new smart card could, in theory, show that a refugee has be turned down for residency and see them deported without a pause for legal advice, says Asylum Aid.

There is also the nagging worry that carrying ID cards - largely alien to Britons - will perhaps see asylum seekers once again marked out from the general population, as was the case with vouchers.

Kenny Gibson, the SNP shadow social justice minister, stirred considerable controversy in the Scottish Parliament when he liked the cards to the badges used by the Nazis to identify Jews.

"How will barriers be broken down," he asked, "introducing the modern equivalent of the yellow star - the smart card."