New smart ID cards for Pakistani expats soon

Valid for seven years, the card has a number of product offerings including accidental death insurance, cash transfer facilities, frequent flying miles programmes and more.

New smart national identity cards that will give Pakistanis in the UAE access to electronic voting in the next general elections are now being issued at the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai.

Eventually replacing the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop), the smart card or SNIC is based on a processor-based chip technology that has 30 security features, making it one of the most secure identity documents across the globe.

Mobile consular services for Northern Emirates Mobile consular services will be started within weeks for Pakistanis residing in Northern Emirates, said Consul-General of Pakistan to Dubai, Javed Khattak. “This will save travel time for a huge number who travel from areas such as Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ajman to Dubai for these services,” he said while speaking to reporters. “This will also reduce crowding and burden at the consulate,” he added. The consular services will be provided for two days over the weekends (Friday/Saturday) on Pakistani schools’ premises in these emirates. Khattak also said that expansion plans for the consulate premises were in the pipeline and would happen soon. He also said that inspections were being carried out in Pakistani schools ahead of KHDA inspections so as to improve education standards. asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

Dubai is the second overseas location where the Pakistan government has launched these cards. The cards are already being issued to Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia. The Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi will also start issuing the cards soon.

“The card is a unique identification document in the region,” said Javed Jalil Khattak, Consul-General of Pakistan in Dubai while officially launching the new cardson Wednesday.

The first two cards from Dubai were issued to a newborn and an elderly citizen of Pakistan.

The card, printed in Urdu and English, is optional at present but will eventually replace all NICs.

“It is an advanced technology and all features and information is laser engrained,” he explained.

He said that, post 9/11, the importance of secure citizen identity document had increased manifold. “The card cannot be tampered with,” he emphasised.

Valid for seven years, the card has a number of product offerings including accidental death insurance (already in place for every applicant), cash transfer facilities, frequent flying miles programmes, targeted subsidy programmes, Pakistani driving licence, Haj and umrah programmes, store chain discounts and many more. The card is also compliant with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation).

“Other programmes will be added as and when supporting platforms are ready,” said Khattak.

The new card costs Dh128 with a normal fee to be delivered within 30 days. The card with urgent fee costs Dh147 (10 days) while Executive fee (seven days) costs Dh165.

Nicops (being issued currently) cost Dh92 for normal, Dh110 for Urgent and Dh128 for Executive.

• UAE