Abu Dhabi: Dubai and Sharjah free zones will link the issuance and renewal of residence visas with the registration of national ID cards within a month, a senior official said yesterday.

Ajman and Abu Dhabi City (including Mussaffah) will do the same within two months, Dr Ali Al Khoury, Director-General of Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID), said.

He spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the seventh meeting of the GCC Smart Card Steering Committee at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

Medical tests

"The expatriates who are undergoing visa medical tests have to first register for ID cards when the linking process is completed," Al Khoury said.

He said the linking process will be extended to all Preventive Medicine Centres conducting visa medical tests across the country by the end of this year.

As Gulf News reported, Emirates ID already linked the issuance and renewal of visas with ID card registration in three emirates — Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah — as part of its strategy to enrol all expatriates in the country by the end of 2013.

Visa medical tests at Preventive Medicine Centres (PMCs) in Dibba Al Hisn and Al Dhaid, in Sharjah and the western region of Abu Dhabi were also linked with ID card registrations recently.

Initiative

This was part of the initiative to extend the linking process to small PMCs across the country, before an emirate-wide extension of the system.

Millions registered

About 3.75 million residents, including Emiratis and expatriates, have registered for national ID cards, Dr Ali Al Khoury, Director-General of Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID), said.

Ninety per cent of the less than one million Emiratis have already registered, he said.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the UAE population was 8.3 million in mid-2010.

In line with a cooperation agreement signed with the Abu Dhabi health sector recently, the Emirates ID will sign a similar agreement with the Ministry of Health which will help register births and deaths immediately, Al Khoury said, keeping the population register up to date.

Emirates ID signed a cooperation agreement with Abu Dhabi Health Authority, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) and National Health Insurance Company Daman recently for the unified use of national ID cards in Abu Dhabi's health sector.

Al Khoury said a recent memorandum of understanding with Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) will help to provide around 600 online government services to ID card holders.

Meanwhile, Al Khoury said the seventh meeting of the GCC Smart Card Steering Committee, being held at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, is discussing measures to ease the movement of people across the boarders of GCC nations.

The GCC nations are discussing the measure to unify the system to read smart ID cards at the borders.

The meeting is discussing a Bahraini proposal in this regard. The unification will help all GCC nationals to travel across the nations by using smart ID cards without the need to carry a passport, the official said.

The meeting ends today.

GCC summit discusses easy movement of people

 

 

The 7th meeting of the GCC Smart Card Steering Committee, being held at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, is discussing the measures to ease the movement of people across the boarders of GCC nations, Dr. Ali Al Khoury said.

 

The GCC nations are discussing the measure to unify the system to read the smart ID cards at the boarders. The meeting is discussing a Bahraini proposal in this regard. The unification will help all GCC nationals to travel across the GCC nations by using smart ID cards without the need to carry passport, the official said. The meeting will end Monday.