470,000 ID cards await their owners at post offices

The Emirates Identity Authority unveiled that 2.34 million ID cards were delivered to their owners over 12 months out of a total of 2.86 million cards that the Emirates Identity Authority delivered to the Emirates Post since their contract was concluded in February 2011 up to February 2012, according to Abdul Aziz Al Maamari, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, Emirates Identity Authority.

In statements to Al Ittihad newspaper, Al Maamari pointed out that around 470,000 cards are ready for delivery to their owners at the Emirates Post, while the daily ID card delivery rate stood at around 17,000 cards in January.

Al Maamari noted the efforts exerted by the Emirates Post for delivering ID cards to their owners, whether by increasing the capacity of delivery platforms to the public or by notifying the owners of ready ID cards though SMS. Over 632,000 SMS messages were sent to customers asking them to pick up their cards from the different post offices across the UAE, he said.

Al Maamari believed that these results were the fruit of the service level agreement, which the Emirates Identity Authority signed with the Emirates Post Corporation for the purpose of upgrading the ID card delivery services based on the Emirates Identity Authority’s concentration on serving customers who are the theme of its strategic values and the top of its priorities and on the belief of the Higher Management at the Emirates Identity Authority that customer satisfaction is the only criterion of success.

According to the agreement, Emirates Post will receive ID cards from the Emirates Identity Authority on a daily basis and will subsequently send SMS messages in Arabic or English (as per customer’s nationality) to customers (within less than 48 hours) calling on them to pick up their cards from an Emirates Post center or private mailboxes.

Al Maamari called on customers to pick up their ID cards within 30 days from the date they are notified to do so in a bid to get the best service and avoid any damage to their cards as well as the fees incurred by issuing a replacement card.

Al Maamari also called on the customers who had not yet registered in the population register and ID card system to do so now and not wait until the last minute of the announced deadlines. He requested customers to benefit from the e-form service, which allows the UAE nationals and residents to submit an ID card issuance application form through the Emirates Identity Authority’s website for first time registration, renewal of an expired card and issuance of a replacement card in addition to the service of inquiring about the status of their applications.