id cards for foreign nationals?

The identity cards being issued to some foreign nationals from November 25, 2008 are described by the Home Office as evidence that the scheme is gathering momentum.
However, this rollout to a very small number of people hardly matches up with Tony Blair’s vision when he argued that “the case for ID cards is a case not about liberty but about the modern world”. These first cards are literally just a plastic card:
They don’t allow for online verification of identity (by fingerprint biometric, or PIN number), instead, the government has simply issued detailed guidance about what they will look like so that you can visually inspect the card.
There is also a telephone number to call if you want to verify if a card is valid and as for the the ultimate security check: because the card is made entirely from polycarbonate, “it will have a distinctive sound when flicked”.