Manama: Qatar-based expatriates will soon be given smart ID cards that will allow them easy access to e-services and to pass through airport gates, the Borders, Passports and Expatriates Affairs Department has said.
"The smart cards will be ready within three months," Mohammad Al Ateeq, assistant director general of the Directorate of Borders Passports and Expatriates Affairs, said.
"It is one of the ambitious projects that the ministry has carried out to catch up with the fast changing world and the willingness of the ministry to keep pace with all these developments," Al Ateeq said, quoted by Qatari daily Gulf Times.
The move follows giving Qatari citizens with smart cards in 2007.
The smart ID consists of an electronic Sim loaded with all the personal data of the person.
"The biometric data will be used to identify people, taking into consideration all the international technical requirements and criteria in such a way there will be a unified data base and operating systems for all the uses of the personal smart card, biometric passports and the electronic gate," Al Ateeq said.
The card is secure and protected against fraud and consists of visible and invisible features, the official said.
Apart form being used as an ID card, the new smart card can be used in getting services from the electronic government and passing through the electronic gate at Doha International Airport and airports in other Gulf countries in the near future, the paper reported.
