Abu Dhabi: Children under 15 years of age who do not have an individual passport but attach it with their parents’ passport can register for the national ID card from Sunday, Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID) announced on Wednesday.
If those children and their parents have a valid residence visa, they are allowed to register for the card without waiting to arrange for an individual passport, an Emirates ID spokesman said on Wednesday.
Most of the countries issue individual passports to children. But a few countries do not issue individual passports to children until they reach 15 years of age.
Emirates ID was insisting on having individual passports for children but decided to reverse the decision following requests from residents.
“It was in response to requests from residents through the authority’s website, social media network and different mass media,” the spokesman said. He explained that very few children could not register for the card because of not having independent passport, without giving any numbers.
The deadline for children under 30 to register for the card will end on the 30th of this month.
Meanwhile the authority reiterated that those children whose visa expires between October 1 and December 31 this year, can register for ab ID card along with their visa renewal. The authority has already linked the issuance and renewal of residence visa and ID card registration.
The number of ID card applications for children under 15 years rose by 194 per cent over the first 8 months of this year, compared to the same period in 2011 thanks to the media campaign launched by the authority.
The authority urged parents whose children’s residence visa expires after December 31 this year to rush to a typing centre to complete the registration. It said the remaining days before the deadline are enough to complete the registration of children across the country.
Typing centres across the country have already been instructed to allow the registration of children without independent passports as of next Sunday, when the amendment of the system is expected to be completed.
