ID applications easier during summer, says Eida official

Abu Dhabi: Summer is the best time to register and apply for a national ID as registration centres are not crowded because many people are on vacation, a senior official of the Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) has said.

"Nowadays we don't rush. Most people who try a walk-in registration get it done within 30 minutes," said Thamer Rashid Al Qasimi, Planning Director and Project Management Manager at Eida.

He said people who have not made an appointment need not worry about non-availability of appointment slots as they can utilise the lean time now for walk-in registration.

The official was responding to a complaint from a Gulf News reader who said he could not book an appointment in Abu Dhabi until the end of this year on the Eida website.

"There is a serious backlog for scheduling to acquire a national ID," Ray Stanton said.

"I have checked their website for both centres in Abu Dhabi to schedule an appointment, but both are booked until after the end of the year," he said.

Staton added that if there was a rush at Eida centres, the authority had to assign more staff to meet the requirement.

Al Qasimi said Eida has enough staff to meet the requirement, and it had never been an issue at all. "

And nothing is wrong with the registration process. "As we mentioned many times, the appointment service is optional and we offered limited slots [of registration] on appointments," Al Qasemi explained.

Figures

95,000 (ninety five thousand) appointments scheduled in 2009.

40 per cent of total registration capacity on appointments

Registration schedule

Deadline: Emiratis (until March 31, 2009), expatriate professionals (until February 2009), expatriate students and administrative staff in the private sector (until June 18, 2009).

Category 3 expats: From June 20 to September 30, Private and public transport drivers, and unskilled or semi-skilled workers in the private sector like housemaids, cleaners, farmers, fishermen, security guards, watchmen and all other unannounced workers except Group

Category 4 expats: From October 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010 Construction workers in the private sector .