This blog was written some years ago, pre-Brexit, but the principles and problems (now far worse) remain the same even if the world has moved on as far as technology is concerned.
We already have passports which contain memory chips which store the holder’s image and other details and the process of obtaining a work permit involves a UK employer. We now need to use modern technology to update visas/work permits and it could be used to keep proper records of migration and in due course streamline the UK PAYE system. We would suggest that all European countries adopt similar systems.
The same technology can be used to provide customs 'carnets' to enable goods to pass quickly through borders. We would hope that all that all European countries beginning with the EU would understand the merits of a universal visas/work permits/custom carnets and adopt compatible systems. The carrot for using electronic customs carnets would be the ability to trace goods wherever they are in transit and collect tariffs up-front rather than in arrear.
The key to the system is to add the work permits, custom carnets or visa apps to suitable mobile phones. Only those phones which employ iris recognition technology would be suitable (the face recognition and finger sensors used by most phones nowadays would be equally suitable), also the app would not allow the location setting to be turned off at any time. A simplified app could be purchased in advance by other visitors to the UK. The app would be similar to present apps by airlines and rail companies where some Air/Rail tickets can be added to phones in lieu of a paper ticket. These Visa apps could be obtained through an online application or via overseas UK embassy or consular offices, and possibly in the case of tourists or other temporary visitors to the UK, as part of the process when purchasing a return ticket from an airline, so that everyone coming to the UK would be recorded on entry and departure and it would also provide a means of tracing them during their visit .
The new phone work permit app would also require employees to touch/swipe the phone to their employers terminal on a weekly basis during their employment - the phone would have had to be logged into using iris recognition technology (now face recognition and fngerprint sensors work well to verify identity), immediately prior to the touch/swipe process, this process would not be validated when the location setting is turned off on the phone. In the case of holiday or student visas apps, the app would not permit it's use as a means of identification eg for, use of NH services, purchase of Air tickets or UK travel by train or car hire if the Visa date had expired or if the Iris scan log on process (with location on) had not taken place within the past week.
A refinement of the system would allow the employers terminal to feed back the employees earnings, tax reference, tax code and tax deducted in encrypted form to the work permit app. The whole system would allow HM Revenue and Customs to streamline their systems to combat tax evasion and fraud. This would give employees an updated alternative to the old P45 which is passed on to a new employer. This encrypted data could also be read by a border agency master terminal or downloaded by its computers. It would be mandatory for the employees phone to be used to verify identity when opening or changing a bank account.
As mentioned previously the Visa and Work permit apps would be read by Border agency terminals whenever the holder entered or left the UK. thus accurate records of the number and type of visitors to the UK can be kept and goods in transit. It would also flag up where visitors have not left the UK when their Visas have expired.
Later refinements might allow HM Revenue and Customs and the Border agency to freeze the employees bank account where the employee had not provided details of his present location to an employer or directly to the border agency.
As well as dealing with Visa's the BorderForce terminals would need to check movements against pre-filed Customs declarations which would be married to HM Revenue and Customs computers to ensure that any tariffs due on the transit of goods are paid either up-front or in due course. Hopefully tariffs would fall away as we move to true Free trade.
A refinement of the system would be that at the time of application for a work permit the applicant would supply a blood sample to determine his/her DNA which when processed would be added to the phone data by the employers' terminal.
It may seem that the system has echoes of George Orwell's 1984 and that civil liberties are being infringed. However we believe that in these dangerous times the system should be gradually introduced to the whole population to provide in effect a national identity card. It would seem preferable to have system which works rather than relying on out of date methods such as passports, whether they be maroon or blue, or driving licences. Most people are used to swiping credit, debt or travel cards and this is only taking it a stage further.
Lars writes that a crucial aspect is that "governments on both sides need to know the exact time when the goods pass the border; this time stamp regulates a wide range of the laws and regulations that constitutes the border formalities – the status of the goods, the ownership of the legal obligations, the time that manifests if certain rules and regulations are applicable or not. In my original report I described different technology solutions that can give us this time stamp, such as number plate readers, RFID technology, CCTV cameras (active border identifier solutions), GPS/GSM technology (Passive Border Identifier solution) and many other options."
I believe that some of the ideas in my original 2016 paper can be used in this regard, an open border policy, governed by a selected visa process will help problems of an aging population. It will be necessary that sustantial resources are made available to open processing centres in all our embassies and consulates.