Great ID relief

The EIDA granted a six-month extension for Emiratis and an indefinite relief for expats, linking the registration with the issuance or renewal of residency visas. The authority also decided to link the population registration to the process. The decision comes following weeks of chaos and rush to meet the deadline at typing centres and EIDA offices.

“The new deadline was announced due to the rush. This doesn’t mean people can wait for more time, they have to use this opportunity and register quickly through the same procedure of visiting the 700 certified typing centres across the UAE, and getting the appointment done to visit the EIDA centre,” said Dr Ali Al Khouri, Director-General of the EIDA, announcing the new deadline of June 30, 2011.

He added that though the registration process for expats has been linked to the renewal or issuance of residency permits, people should prefer to get the IDs done as soon as possible or else they might miss on a lot of essential services, noting that the linkage project of visa and IDs would become operational within two weeks.

“The linking project has already been successfully implemented in the emirate of Umm Al Quwain. Now, with the approval of the board of directors, the ID registration, along with population registration, would be linked to visa renewal or issuance. The project would start across all emirates in the next two weeks,” explained Al Khouri.

The project is part of the EIDA Strategy 2010-2013 and the authority is hoping to implement the strategy completely by the last quarter of 2011.

With only 1.5 million people registered as at now, the authority is gearing up, with the extension of the deadline, to get the remaining population covered by the end of next year. “All the residents and nationals, young and old, are required to have themselves registered as soon as possible. As for those whose cards have expired, they would be able to renew them in the next few months by visiting an authorised typing centre,” Al Khoury noted.

The EIDA board has also approved a recommendation to link the services provided by all departments, corporations and entities across the UAE to the ID card on a gradual basis, calling for continuous co-ordination with various entities concerned to link their services to the ID card.

Expectedly, the residents have heaved a huge sigh of relief and expressed delight in having more time to get their IDs done.

Mohammed Saeed, a UAE resident from UK, said: “This is great news to postpone the deadline, I recently visited a typing centre and got a message saying my appointment is on April 4, which is way beyond the previous deadline of December 31, so I expected to pay a fine for exceeding the deadline.

ahmedjamal@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE