Immigration and Asylum Biometrics System (IABS)

The request was partially successful.

Dear Home Office,

I have made this request via email but there seems to have been an error in sending it through. If you have already received this request, please proceed with this one only and disregard previous requests from my personal email. Thank you.

I would like to request the following information about the Immigration and Asylum Biometrics System (IABS):

1. a) Total number of individuals whose data is currently held on the IABS.
b) A breakdown by nationality
c) A breakdown by organisation/agency that created the entry (e.g. UKVI, Border Agency, police)
If it isn't possible to ascertain the number of individuals eg. due to duplicate entries, please provide the number of entries instead.

2. A list of all the types of data stored on IABS (eg. fingerprints, DNA, entry/exit dates, criminal history etc.)

3. A list of all agencies and organisations which have access to IABS (including those who can 'read-only')

4. A list of all agencies and organisations which can create new entries or upload new datasets to IABS

5. The retention period of data held on IABS

6. Are there any connections between IABS and policing databases?

Yours faithfully,
Mark Johnson

FOI Requests, Home Office

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FOI Requests, Home Office

Mr Johnson,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 64715). We will aim to send you a full response by 19/07/2021 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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FOI Responses, Home Office

2 Attachments

Dear Mark Johnson,

 

Please find attached response to your Freedom of Information request dated
18 June 2021.

 

Please note we are sending this to you by e-mail only.

 

 

Information Rights Team

Home Office

Third Floor, Peel Building

2 Marsham Street

London SW1P 4DF

e-mail: [1][email address]

 

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Dear Home Office,
Re. FOI 64715

In your response to my FOI request 64715 you mentioned that 'there is a connection between IABS and IDENT1 (the police fingerprint collection) which enables the cross searching of immigration fingerprint records
with those held under the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act on IDENT1.'

1. Can you elaborate on what this cross-searching entails? For example, can searches be made from either one of the IABS or the IDENT1 systems to check for matches in the other system?
2. Are there currently plans to combine the two fingerprint systems into a unified database?

Yours faithfully,

Mark Johnson

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office  Freedom of Information Requests
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This is to acknowledge  receipt of your email.

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FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Mr Johnson,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 65113). We will aim to send you a full response by 13/08/2021 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mark Johnson,

 

Please find attached response to your Freedom of Information request dated
14 July 2021.

 

Please note we are sending this to you by e-mail only.

 

Information Rights Team

Home Office

Third Floor, Peel Building

2 Marsham Street

London SW1P 4DF

e-mail: [1][email address]

 

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Dear Home Office,

Re. 65113:

For searches made from IABS to IDENT1 and vice versa, does the Home Office hold any relevant statistics? If so, please provide, for the calendar year 2020:
1. The number of searches made from IABS to IDENT1.
2. The number of searches made from IDENT1 to IABS.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Johnson

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office  Freedom of Information Requests
Mailbox.

This is to acknowledge  receipt of your email.

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FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Mr Johnson,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 65481). We will aim to send you a full response by 06/09/2021 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mark Johnson,

 

Please find attached response to your Freedom of Information request dated
06 August 2021.

 

Please note we are sending this to you by e-mail only.

 

 

Information Rights Team

Home Office

Third Floor, Peel Building

2 Marsham Street

London SW1P 4DF

e-mail: [1][email address]

 

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References

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1. mailto:[email address]