Emirates ID distributes 500,000 electronic readers on UAE organizations

H.E. Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Emirates ID Director General, stated that the ID card is expected to become a condition for completing any government transaction across the UAE by the end of this year in the light of the increase in number of entities and organizations adopting the ID card to more than 150 currently.

Al Khouri unveiled to the Emarat Al Youm newspaper in its today’s issue that the Emirates Identity Authority intends to distribute more than 500,000 electronic readers of ID data on the government sector over the upcoming period. He noted that the Emirates Identity Authority is in the process of completing registration of all the UAE population in the population register and ID card system this year.

While no more than 10 entities adopted the ID card in 2009, the number rose to more than 150 government and private entities now, he said, adding that the ID card is expected by the end of this year to become one of the major conditions for customers to be able to benefit from the services provided by government entities in  the UAE.

Al Khouri pointed out that the Emirates Identity Authority is in the process of distributing a huge number of up to 500,000 electronic reading machines on the government sector this year in a bid to contribute to expediting the completion of transactions in these entities and enhancing the adoption of the ID card as a main document for identifying the personality and identity of individuals. He noted that this project comes as part of implementing the third strategic objective of the Emirates Identity Authority’s strategy 2010-2013 for rendering the ID card the most valuable and important document among individuals and organizations.

Al Khouri clarified that the ID card contains all the biometrics of its holder and can be read immediately after being inserted in the electronic reading machine without the need to view the other supporting documents, considering that the competent employee can get the applicant’s data or personal photo through the ID card and hence make sure that the submitted data are correct.

Al Khouri said the registration of the UAE population in the population register and ID card system is expected to be completed by the end of this year according to the relatively high rates of demand for registration as recently seen by the registration centers.

The Emirates Identity Authority completes more than 600,000 transactions per month including more than 400,000 new registration transactions, he said, adding that around 580,000 ID cards are delivered to their owners through couriers, according to their official statistics.

Al Khouri affirmed that the complaints which are currently being received by the Emirates Identity Authority about the belated delivery of cards are on the decrease, adding that the Emirates Identity Authority’s table of registration deadlines contributed to speeding up the registration of large numbers of the UAE population.