UAE | General

Emirates ID card: Know your deadline

Expats who have not yet registered for the ID card or those not renewing before the newly set dates will pay a daily fine of Dh20

XPRESS Report
Published: 00:00 September 15, 2011

Image Credit: Abdul Rehman/Gulf News Archive
Applicants at an Emirates ID office. Expats who have not yet registered for the ID card or those not renewing before the newly set dates will pay a daily fine of Dh20.

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DUBAI: New deadlines have been set for expatriates in the various emirates to obtain or renew their Emirates ID card before a daily fine of Dh20 will be slapped on late registrants, the Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID) announced on Wednesday. The authority has announced that charging of late fees for expatriates (above 15 years) will be implemented in four phases.

The decision was announced following a meeting of the Emirates ID Board of Trustees. In that meeting, Lt Gen Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, directed the authority to exempt children under 15 from late fees for Emirates ID card until October 2012.

Alongside new time lines for expatriates, Emirates ID has set October 31, 2011 as the final deadline for UAE nationals to enrol their names in the Population Register and ID Card (PRIDC).

"[The] introduction of phased late fees in different Emirates [is] aimed at regulating and accelerating registrations," the authority said in a statement.

As per the board's decision, any change in the personal data of cardholders, except children under 15 years of age, and incidents that bring changes in personal data should be reported to the Emirates ID Authority within 30 days from the date of such change or incident. The nature of such data and incidents will be specified later by the Emirates ID Director General shortly.

Data update

Emirates ID Authority said it will determine shortly the personal data (name, marital status, date of birth, qualification, employer, address and nationality, among others) and incidents (birth, death, marriage, divorce, change in nationality or residence, and others) that fall under the new guidelines.

To facilitate this, the authority will link with all concerned Federal and local authorities electronically in phases starting mid-2012.

Dr Ali Mohammad Al Khouri, Director General of Emirates ID, has urged all expatriates in the UAE to register as early as possible for the ID card irrespective of the validity of their residence visas to avoid the late fee.

He also urged all UAE citizens who have not yet registered in the Population Register and ID Card to take advantage of the final deadline issued by the board and avoid penalties, by registering before October 31, 2011. Dr Al Khouri estimates that fewer than 100,000 UAE nationals have not yet registered for Emirates ID.

The application of late fee for expatriates (above 15 years) will be implemented in four phases:

Phase 1: From December 1, 2011
Includes all expatriates in the Northern Emirates: Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Ajman, in addition to all employees in the federal and local public sectors and semi-government organisations and their families

Phase 2: Ffrom february 1, 2012
Includes all expatriates in the Emirate of Sharjah

Phase 3: From April 1, 2012
Includes all expatriates in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi

Penalties

The Ministerial Decision No. 25 of 2011 stipulates a penalty of Dh20 per day up to a maximum of Dh1,000 for the following offences:
Delay in registration or issuance of identity cards, for all categories and age groups
Delay in renewing ID cards, for all categories and ages (effective 30 days from expiry of the card)
Delay in reporting any change or modification in the cardholder's personal data or incidents, for all categories and age groups (after 30 days from the date of the change)
October 31, 2011 will be the deadline for renewing all identity cards expiring up to that date. Any cardholder across the UAE, with the exception of children under 15 years, has 30 days to renew the card from the date of expiry.

Phase 4: From June 1, 2012
Includes all expatriates in the Emirate of Dubai

The board also directed to collect the late fee from anyone across the UAE over the age of 15, applying for a residence visa renewal without ID registration, effective January 1, 2012 as per Ministerial Decision No: 25 for 2011.