More New Zealanders working in Britain will have to apply for identity cards now that the roll-out of the cards has been sped up.
By April next year, any New Zealander spending more than six months there will need to apply for a card before arriving.
From this week, all sponsored skilled workers and their dependants need a card bearing their fingerprints and photo in order to extend their UK stay.
Highly skilled and temporary workers need to do so by the end of the year.
New Zealanders will have to present their identity document, which is free, at the border and to employers.
The British Government expects 90% of people from countries outside the European Union to have a card by 2015.
The communications manager at the British High Commission in Wellington, Chris Harrington, says ID cards help combat illegal working.