Emirates ID completes registration of around 5.2 million UAE people

The Emirates Identity Authority has disclosed that a total of around 5.2 million UAE nationals and residents have been registered in the population register and ID card system since its inception up to the end of 2011 including 2.44 million last year.

In its recently issued annual report, the Emirates Identity Authority confirmed its quest to register all the UAE population as part of its strategic plan 2010-2013.

The report indicated that 220,000 people were registered in their worksites in co-ordination with the entities and organizations they worked for and that 3 million ID cards were delivered by mail to their owners last year.

The report also indicated that over 150 official government and private entities across the UAE were currently adopting the ID card and that 2,577 electronic ID card readers were distributed on government entities.

The report included an outline about the partnership agreements and memoranda of understanding that the Emirates Identity Authority signed last year with many government and private organizations for adopting the ID card as a personal identification document and optimizing its electronic features.

The report showed that registration rates rose to around 23,000 people per day and that around 40,000 registration and renewal forms were filled out per day while the number of ID cards delivered to their owners rose to 85,000 per week and the ID card printing capacity stood at around 32,000 ID cards per day.

The report reviewed the strategic projects that the Emirates Identity Authority carried out including the complete operation of 26 registration centers attached to the preventive medicine centers across the UAE, bringing to 60 the number of permanent and temporary registration centers attached to the preventive medicine. These strategic projects also included the launch of the first phase of a project for electronic linkage with the UAE organizations, which is expected to be completed by mid-year.

Other projects included launching the first phase of the electronic certification center and digital ID project, completing a project for redesigning the registration centers across the UAE, upgrading the infrastructure of registration and ID card printing systems and applying the human resource management and planning system.

Underscoring its keenness on developing its customer service technological structure, the report said the Emirates Identity Authority introduced an electronic system for complaints and suggestions and launched a customer service charter, a secret shopper project, a new call center to keep pace with the growing number of registrants and an e-form service on its website in addition to signing a “service level” agreement to improve delivery of ID cards.

The report indicated that the Emirates Identity Authority faced a number of major challenges last year including the challenge of completing the registration of the UAE population in the population register and ID card as part of its strategic plan 2010-2013. The report clarified that this challenge was overcome after a recent Cabinet decision on delay fees had been issued, final deadlines for registering all UAE population had been set before the end of 2013 and executive councils and government entities had been asked to start adopting the ID card officially.

The report reviewed the Emirates Identity Authority’s objectives and aspirations for the current year which included completing the registration of UAE nationals and residents, activating the digital ID applications for easing electronic transactions, completing the project of electronic linkage with the UAE organizations and integrating with eGovernments for the use of ID card in addition to achieving 100 per cent of Emiratization, launching innovated electronic services through the website, enhancing communication with customers through the social communication channels, launching self-service kiosks and delivering ID Cards instantly.

In addition, the Emirates Identity Authority carried on activating the linkage of residence issuance procedures with registration in ID card all over the UAE except Dubai, in which linkage was resolved to be activated from April 1. This project contributed to increase the daily registration capacity to more than 23,000 registrants through the registration centers attached to the preventive medicine and the Emirates Identity Authority-affiliated permanent and temporary registration centers.