Emirates ID will replace labour card

Dubai: There will be no need for expatriates to have labour cards after three months, a spokesman from the ministry of labour has said.

"The document which was essential for any employee in the country will now be replaced by the Emirates ID and there will no longer be a need to have a labour card by the end of June, when the deadline for registering expatriates in the ID system expires," he said

Earlier Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash, Minister of Labour, had said that Emirates ID cards would replace labour cards by the second half of 2012.

He said the decision would be implemented as soon as the Emirates National Identity Authority (Eida) was sure that all expatriates in the UAE were registered and had applied for the Emirates ID.

"After the completion of ID registration of all expatriates in the country, the labour card will be eradicated and replaced by the Emirates ID," he said.

The spokesman said that using Emirates ID as labour card will make things easier for expatriate workers. "They will not need to carry too many cards after the ID registration is completed by June this year."

Dubai residents, whose residence visas expire this year, can register and renew their ID cards at the time of renewal of their visas.

Expatriates in Sharjah are required to register and renew their ID cards before February 1; Abu Dhabi residents must do it before April 1; and the deadline for Dubai is before June 1.

The official said that the Emirates ID is valid for two years for expatriates working in the private sector. The validity applies to also family members who are under their sponsorship.

what the ID replaces