Typing centres still holding passports

Dubai: Several typing centres certified to process pre-registration applications to obtain Emirates ID cards are holding back 500 to 1,000 passports each, an undercover investigation by Gulf News has revealed.

Many people who run the centres were caught on a hidden camera saying they have stashed away hundreds of passports.

Amidst the mad rush for ID card registration, some typing centres are further fuelling the already chaotic situation. The rush was triggered by a reminder issued by the Emirates Identity Authority, (Eida) on December 13, about the December 31 deadline to register for ID cards.

Large crowds

Yesterday morning, as the Gulf News team walked down the streets of Karama, where a large number of centres are located, an overwhelming number of people were seen holding their passports. Most of them said they were turned away from typing centres.

"I came around 8am in but the typing centre turned me down because by that time they already finished collecting 200 passports, which they said is the maximum number of applications they can process in a day," said one resident. "People have been camping outside the typing centres from 11pm at night. It is hard to beat that… not everyone can do it," he added.

Typing centres disclosed that people are falling in queue long before the centre opens. An employee at one of the busiest centres said: "We are working from 6am to 12am since the past week. The first person to get in told us he reached the place before 4am."

Even though the situation has now got out of hand, officials cannot be blamed because until the reminder of the deadline there hardly were a handful of people who came to register.

While law-abiding typing centres are rightly informing people that no penalty has yet been declared, some centres are misinforming people warning them of consequences.

Panic situation

"People are panicking because they heard rumours that after deadline there would be a fine of Dh5,000 or Dh1,000 or that they would not be able to travel or enter the country," a typing centre employee said.

Interestingly, none of the typing centres visited seems to think there is anything wrong in collecting passports from residents. Many of them had the passports stashed away in empty cartons.

"What can we do? There is no other option but to leave my passport with them," an applicant said, adding that he was initially sceptical. A few people complained about being asked extra money by centres to finish the processing sooner. However, this could not be verified.

Identity theft: Missions warn people

Diplomatic missions have come forward to warn the public not to leave their passports at typing centres, following a Gulf News report yesterday warning about the possibilities of identity theft.

M.K. Lokesh, India's ambassador to the UAE said: "As the UAE officials highlighted these typing centres are not government departments and hence they cannot be trusted with passports."

He called on citizens not to leave it with the centres, and urged them to follow the rules related to the Emirates ID as stipulated by the UAE government.

Mohammad Nazmul Quaunine, Bangladeshi Ambassador asked people not to panic since no penal action has yet been decided.

He was optimistic that the local authorities will come up with a solution to the situation.

— With inputs form Binsal Abdul Staff Reporter