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Abu Dhabi: About 300,000 Emiratis who have not registered for national identity cards will have illegal status from January onwards, a top official told Gulf News.
"Employees in workplaces and students or pupils at educational institutions will be treated as illegals for violating the law in this regard, if they do not register before the end of 2008," said Thamer Rashed Al Qasimi, Planning Director and Project Management Director at Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA).
He said it was mandatory for Emiratis and expatriates to have an identity card under federal law No.9, 2006. Expatriates in the government sector for whom registration started on June 1, have to complete registration by October.
EIDA started registration for expatriate professionals from July 1. The dates for expatriates in other categories will be announced later.
He made it clear that although obtaining an identity card is optional for children below 15 years, registration with the population register is compulsory.
We give an identity number to children, which is compulsory for any official transactions including educational matters, he said.
"Parents can opt whether to obtain an identity card for them [children below 15 years], but they must be registered with the population register", he said.
"Among the unregistered Emiratis, most of them are children below 15 years. Parents coming for registration do not bring their children due to a misunderstanding that it is not compulsory."
Among the estimated total population of 830,000 Emiratis, 300,000 have not yet registered.
He warned Emirati pupils under 15 will be treated as illegal at their schools, if they do not have a registration ID number with EIDA by the end of 2008.
Employees cannot continue work without an identity card. Employers will also face legal action, if their employees do not obtain identity cards, said the official.
Emiratis without identity cards will not be able to receive any service from government, semi-government and even private organisations from 2009, said the official. They will face problems dealing with all sorts of transactions, including banking.
Who to call
For more information: Call EIDA at 600523432 or log on to www.emiratesid.ae.
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