Britain announced on Tuesday that it was preparing to make mandatory the recording of biometric details – fingerprinting and photographing – of the 700,000 foreigners a year living in the United Kingdom, suggesting that Britain is effectively trying to close its borders to foreigners, The Guardian reported. While British residents will likely be obliged to carry the identity (ID) cards from 2011, foreigners visiting the country will be required to carry them from 2008. The Guardian also reported that the government was establishing 150 screening centres worldwide in the next 18 months to record biometric data from visitors from 169 countries outside Europe. This means that from 2008, everyone from the 169 countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) – the 25 European Union (EU) members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – who intends to work, study or stay in Britain for a period of more than six months, must first provide biometric data as part of their pre-departure travel requirements. In addition, visitors from 108 countries of the 169 that have visa agreements with the UK will also have to provide biometric details, even if they intend to stay in Britain for just 24 hours, the paper reported. The announcement, made by Home Secretary John Reid, comes after reports earlier this month that identified Britain as the western country most at risk from an attack by Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terror network. Reid defended the move, saying, “people we are concerned about will be stopped from coming here before they travel”.