Theses and IDs

Most Swedes have an ID document of some kind, either a national ID card, their passport or their drivers license. I myself have all three of them, and I never imagined the problems it could cause to get one. While this is old news in the overall scope of things, it still surprises me. The background to this story is that the Swedish company which used to issue most of the Swedish ID cards, Svensk Kassaservice, first restricted who could get an ID, and then ceased their ID card operations all in all.

By law, they as well as all banks also issuing ID cards, are not allowed to issue ID cards unless a person can be positively identified. For a good reason. But what does positively identified mean? It used to mean that if you did not have an ID before, someone else, a colleage, friend, parent, husband or sibling for instance, would have to vouche for that you are indeed the one you claim you are.

Some time ago, Svensk Kassaservice and all other issuers of ID cards, changed this so that only close relatives; parents, siblings or a husband or wife could vouche for your ID. And that's not all; the one who vouches for your ID has to have a Swedish ID already.

This causes a catch 22 for immigrants to Sweden. Even if the Immigration office acknowledges who they are and even write into their passport that they have a right to stay in Sweden, they can not, in any way, get a Swedish ID. At least not yet.

You never know how much is dependant on having an ID until you actually don't have one. After looking at this from every possible angle we've now concluded that it seems impossible for Julia to get a Swedish ID, despite her living her permanently, before the 1st of june. Or at least, that's how things look right now.

The Swedish Police are issuing passports and ID cards to all Swedish citizens. They have the expertice, equipment and routines for issuing ID cards. By the 1st of january this year, they were first supposed to start issuing ID cards also to foreigners. It wouldn't be a big problem, because they already have everything they need, and they can easily check in international registers if a foreign passport is reported stolen, for instance. But they didn't want to.

Now, how they can say that they don't want to is beyond me. I thought it was up to the parliament of Sweden to decide what they should do and not do, but apparently the Swedish Police can decide for themselves that they don't want to do it. Go figure.

So then the issuing of ID cards to foreigners were delayed, and it's now up to the tax authority to implement routines, buy equipment and train personell in how to issue ID cards for foreigners. And they don't really want to either, but apparently they don't have the same power as the police to say that they don't. How is that for a vaste of tax payer resources, to have both the police and tax authority issue ID cards, one to Swedish citizens and one to foreign nationals?

In other news, the students here at the IT University are soon starting with their thesis work and there's plenty of them to choose from. Most of the ideas are quite good, and looking very promising, including some work with Free Software which I will supervise. In a few weeks I'll also finish the Logic, Algorithms and Data Structure as well as the Industrial Best Practice courses that I'm giving at present and hopefully will have more time for other things after that.

One of the things I'm desperate to find time for is my own writing, as well as my studies in Russian which are progressing, but needs more dedicated time from my side. And before that, I thought that I would catch something to eat. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy quote rings eerily true: time is an illusion, lunchtime, doubly so.