Petition: Introduce Mandatory Biometric Registration and Electronic Monitoring for Individuals Seeking Permanent Residence in the United Kingdom

The first duty of any Government is to protect its own citizens. That duty begins with maintaining secure borders, knowing who is seeking to make the United Kingdom their permanent home, verifying their identity beyond reasonable doubt, maintaining effective oversight while their immigration status remains unresolved, and ensuring that every lawful immigration decision can be enforced.

No immigration system can be regarded as credible if individuals whose legal right to remain has not yet been established are able to disappear into the wider community before a final decision has been implemented. The British public are entitled to expect an immigration system that is transparent, accountable and capable of enforcing the law consistently.

British citizenship is not an automatic entitlement. It is one of the greatest privileges our nation can bestow. Those who seek to settle permanently in the United Kingdom should reasonably expect to satisfy the highest standards of identity verification and compliance with British law.

We therefore call upon the Government to introduce legislation establishing a mandatory national biometric registration and electronic monitoring framework for every adult who:

• enters the United Kingdom illegally;
• applies for asylum;
• applies for Indefinite Leave to Remain; or
• applies to become a British citizen.

The legislation should also require every adult already present within the United Kingdom whose immigration status remains unresolved, and who has not previously undergone biometric registration or electronic monitoring under such a scheme, to comply with these requirements within a defined implementation period.

The framework should require the compulsory collection and secure retention of fingerprints, facial biometrics and a DNA sample for the purposes of establishing identity beyond reasonable doubt, preventing identity fraud, protecting national security, supporting lawful criminal investigations and preserving the integrity of the United Kingdom’s immigration system.

Every adult whose immigration status remains unresolved should also be subject to mandatory electronic GPS monitoring until their immigration case has been finally determined and every resulting legal requirement has been implemented.

No individual whose immigration status remains unresolved should be unaccounted for at any stage of the immigration process.

Electronic monitoring should exist solely to ensure compliance with immigration law while an individual’s legal status is being determined. Where asylum, Indefinite Leave to Remain or British citizenship is granted, electronic monitoring should cease.

Where an application is finally refused, the authorities should already know the individual’s location, enabling immediate enforcement of the lawful immigration decision without unnecessary delay.

Any deliberate removal, damage, interference with, or persistent failure to maintain electronic monitoring equipment, without reasonable excuse, should constitute a serious breach of immigration conditions and provide grounds for immediate detention pending further immigration action.

These proposals do not seek to prevent genuine refugees from obtaining protection or lawful migrants from making the United Kingdom their permanent home. Every applicant should continue to receive a fair and lawful assessment of their case. However, fairness to applicants must never come at the expense of public safety, effective border control or the enforcement of the law.

An immigration system that cannot reliably identify those seeking to settle in the United Kingdom, cannot maintain effective oversight while their cases remain unresolved, and cannot enforce its own lawful decisions undermines public confidence, weakens the rule of law and fails in one of the fundamental responsibilities of Government.

We therefore call upon Parliament to introduce legislation establishing mandatory biometric registration, including fingerprints, facial biometrics and DNA, together with mandatory electronic monitoring for all adults seeking permanent residence in the United Kingdom, and for all adults already present whose immigration status remains unresolved.

The British people deserve secure borders, effective immigration control, consistent enforcement of the law and the confidence that every individual seeking to make the United Kingdom their permanent home is known, identifiable and fully accountable until their legal status has been conclusively determined.