Confusion continues: Wild card chase

Expatriate professionals and Emiratis face a bigger crunch when thousands of school and college students start registering for their national ID cards from January next year, a senior official said.

Thamer Rashad Al Qasimi, Planning Division Manager of the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA), said: "No changes have been made on the registration schedule and fines will be imposed as per the law.

"There is no extension for Emiratis and expatriate professionals. But we will not turn down anybody who registers late. By then they will be in violation of the law. There will be a fine, of course, for Emiratis who let the December 31 deadline lapse." Expats don’t pay a fine.

UAE nationals who don’t have the ID cards will be deprived of services from January 1 2009, said Al Qasimi. On Tuesday, the EIDA uploaded a form on its website that allows registrants to complete it and generate a bar code, a move aimed to ease pre-registration.

Al Qasimi said they are aware that only 10 per cent of the estimated 600,000 professional expats in the country have registered as of November 19.

"There will be a parallel registration. But priority will be given to the category for which the time slot was originally designated," he said. Al Qasimi said they planned for the long holidays in December.

"We knew about these holidays from as early as summer. When we laid down the plan, we had enough time to register both expatriate professionals and Emiratis." Bandwidth problems knocked down online registration requests until recently.

Panic has gripped expatriates and, in some cases, applicants start to form queues at EIDA registration centres as early as 1am while the centres open at 7.30am. Conflicting information given by EIDA officials and staff has also caused confusion. An off-site EIDA staff said those whose residence visas are valid for less than six months can postpone applying for their ID card until the time of visa renewal, but Al Qasimi said people can postpone applying for the ID card "at their own risk". Al Qasimi advised people to process IDs for their family as well.

Legal framework

• Federal Law No. 2 (2004) – provides for the incorporation of Emirates Identity Authority
• Federal Decree No. 9 (2006) lays down the rules on the Population Register and national ID card system
• Cabinet Decision No. 201 (September 2007) decrees that the national ID Card as the only acceptable unique identifier of personal identity by all Government (Federal/Local), semi government and private entities.

The law defines the enrolment deadlines as follows:

a) UAE Nationals/Citizens shall register before 1-Jan-2009

b) UAE Residents/Expats shall register before 1-Jan-2011 (Based on a phased registration schedule to be made public)

Registration categories

• First Quarter, 2009 – Residents, private sector administrative workers and School/College/University Students
• Second Quarter, 2009 - Housekeepers, servants, farmers, general transport drivers, caterers, and guards starting early
• Third Quarter of 2009 - Construction workers and unskilled workers starting early

(Source: www.emiratesid.ae)