Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi is set to start linking the issuance and renewal of residence visas with the registration of national ID cards within the next three months, senior officials said on Sunday.
The process will be carried out in an organised manner and will begin from June or July, Major General Ahmad Nasser Al Raisi, Director-General of ADP Central Operations and Chairman of the Executive Committee at the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) board of directors, told Gulf News.
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Another senior official explained that the process will be conducted at the Preventive Medicine Centre (PMC), in Musaffah.
"The expatriates who are undergoing visa medical tests at Musaffah PMC have to first register for ID cards when the linking process is completed," Dr Ali Al Khoury, Director-General of EIDA, told reporters.
The linking process will be extended to PMCs in Abu Dhabi and other regions of the emirate later this year, he said.
Unveiling plans
The officials talked about the plan on the sidelines of the ID World Abu Dhabi 2011, an annual summit on globalised information and communication technology innovation, security and mobility, which began in the capital yesterday.
The summit under the patronage of Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, is organised by Wise Media, an international consultancy company.
The European Union, EIDA and Abu Dhabi Police endorsed the event.
Eida has 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 2010-2013 strategy to enrol all expatriates in the country by the end of 2013.
Visa medical tests at centres of preventive medicine in Dibba Al Hisn and Al Dhaid, in Sharjah, were also linked with ID card registrations last month.
The initiative looks to extends the linking process to small PMCs across the country, besides an emirate-wide extension of the system.
