UAE | Government
Crowds overwhelm ID card registration centres
The scene at several registration centres of the Emirates Identity Authority was chaotic on Thursday despite promises to upgrade the services following the announcement that all professional expatriates should register by the end of this year.
- By Wafa Issa, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:55 October 23, 2008
- Image Credit: Megan Hirons/Gulf News
- Residents applying for the new Emirates Identity Card wait at the Emirates Identity Authority centre located at the Central Post Office in Al Karama.
Dubai: The scene at several registration centres of the Emirates Identity Authority was chaotic on Thursday despite promises to upgrade the services following the announcement that all professional expatriates should register by the end of this year.
As residents rushed to sign up for the new mandatory cards several centres struggled to accommodate the big number of applicants and waiting time reached more than five hours in some places.
Gulf News visited the overcrowded Al Karama registration centre and found that people were waiting for up to four hours.
Half of that time was spent at the typing office to fill the preregistration form as people could not access the Authority's website to print the form in advance.
Shaikh Mohammad Ishtiyaq, an Indian marketing manger, said not only did the Authority give a very short deadline for a large number of people to register but that the system did not have the capacity to accommodate such large numbers.
"It took me almost three hours to get a preregistration form from the typing office and God knows how many more hours I have to wait until I finish the registration process," he said.
Ayoub Al Bastaki, supervisor at the centre, said the number of visitors more than doubled on Thursday which has overloaded the system. "We are expecting that more than 250 people will register in this centre alone," said Al Bastaki.
Shahrahano Shahrokh, an Iranian businesswoman, said it took her almost four hours to register. "It is totally unacceptable to spend that much time to register especially as they have only two counters working," she said.
Osama Hamadan, an Iraqi analytical chemist, said it took him a whole day to register. "I came here at around 10:30am to get the preregistration form through the typing office and it's 2:30pm and still I am waiting," he said.
More than 4,500 identity card applications have been submitted to the Emirates Identity Authority in less than 48 hours, said Thamer Rashed Al Qasemi, Planning Director at the Authority. He said the network overloading continued for the second day as it received 4,600 in the past two days. "The worst overload on our registration centres were reported in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah," said Al Qasemi.
Registration: Locations of centres
The following are locations of centres for registering for ID cards:
- Abu Dhabi Al Mashrif Registration CentreMasafa Street, Al MashrifTel: 02-4046688
- Al Ain Registration Centre, Shaikh Zayed Street, Al Jehali 16Tel: 03-7550777
- Al Barsha Registration Centre, Near Jebel Ali Horse Course Tel: 04-2651542
- Sharjah Registration Centre, Tawoon Mall Tel: 06-7554000
- Ajman Registration Centre, Behind Immigration Building, Tel: 06-7484777
- Ras Al Khaimah Registration Centre, Safeer Shopping Mall, Tel: 07 2351153
- Fujairah Registration Centre, Hamad Bin Abdullah Street, Opposite etisalat TowerTel: 09-2242552
- Umm Al Quwain Registration Centre, Opposite the Municipality Building, Tel: 06-7655111
- Working hours: Sunday-Thursday (7:30am-10pm) & Saturday (8am-2pm)
- Compiled by Syed Bilal Shafi, Staff Reporter
Have you tried registering for the national ID card? Did you visit the EIDA centre or register online? Which was more convenient and why? Are you clear about the registration process?
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