Residents seek extension as ID deadline triggers chaos

DUBAI — With less than a week remaining for the deadline to register for Emirates ID cards, residents caught in the rush say they are running in vain from pillar to post and urged the authorities to extend the deadline.

Thousands of residents making the last-minute rush to typing centres authorised to do the pre-registration service have been frustrated at the ordeal of waiting in the serpentine queues. Lining up in front of some typing centres before dawn has turned out to be literally a nightmare for many. Adding to their woes, many typing centres have stopped services and many others are turning away applicants as they cannot cope up with the rush.

With thousands of applications still awaiting approval, time is running out for residents who are yet to register for the ID cards. Gripped by the fear of being fined or denied services if they do not meet the deadline, many residents have requested the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) to defer deadline and give them a breather.

As people were expecting the EIDA to announce fresh details to clear doubts regarding the extension of deadline, rumours spread at typing centres that an extension of two months has been declared.

However, a senior EIDA official denied this.

Confusion and chaos continued at typing centres as residents complained about their inability to register in time, which they fear would bring a penalty.

“I have been going from one typing centre to another but no one is willing to process the application as they already have a lot of pending applications,” said Mohammed Baksh, a Pakistani national.

“It is difficult for people to wait in long queues just to get their documents processed from a typing centre [in one location]. There should be more typing centres that are allowed to process the registration form or the authority should simply extend the deadline,” said another resident Walter Fernandes.

People have also complained about lack of proper information on procedures for those with expired Emirates ID cards and those having to update details on their cards.

“Most of the contact numbers of the authorised typing centres listed on the EIDA website are not working and there is very poor communication. I ended up visiting eight different typing centres in Qusais and Karama and none of them was accepting the documents needed to register,” said Nirmal Parmar, a senior sales and marketing engineer.

“They should extend the deadline on humanitarian grounds because many people won’t be able to register with the existing rush at these centres,” added Nirmal.

muaz@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE