Abu Dhabi: Expatriates applying for or renewing their residence visas in Sharjah will have to first secure a national ID card.
The rule will take effect from December 1.
The Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID) will link the visa medical tests at nine Preventive Medicine Centres (PMCs) in Sharjah with the registration of national ID cards, it was announced yesterday.
Emirates ID earlier announced that the deadline for expatriates in Sharjah to apply for national ID cards is on January 31, 2012. Those who fail to secure their ID cards will be levied a Dh20 fine per day, going up to a maximum of Dh1,000 from February 1, 2012 onwards.
Link up
Sharjah will be the sixth emirate to link the visa processing and ID card registration. Dubai is expected to complete the link up by early next year, a spokesman of Emirates ID told Gulf News yesterday.
The Dubai link up will complete the visa-national ID integration project.
Once completed, an estimated 22,000 people are expected to register for national ID cards per day, taking the number of registrations to half a million a month.
Nine ID card registration centres — Ghubaiba, Nasiriyah, Kalba, Sharjah Industrial Area, Khor Fakkan, Al Dhaid, Dibba Al Hosn, Hamriyah Free Zone and Free Zone in Sharjah International Airport — will be linked to Preventive Medicine Centres (PMCs) conducting visa medical tests.
Visa applicants must first apply for the ID card and present the Emirates ID receipt when going for their medical tests.
They have to first complete the Emirates ID pre-registration process — filling up the form, payment of the fee and booking an appointment for registration — at an accredited typing centre before going for the visa medical test.
After completing the medical test, an applicant goes to the national ID card registration section where their fingerprints and photograph will be taken.
New procedure
Emartech , the company responsible for managing the electronic forms and printing offices has completed training their staff on the new procedure.
Most typing centres in Sharjah were also oriented on the new procedures.
Applicants need not to be present at the typing centre when filling up the e-application form. They have to however, show the original passport and e-application form at the ID card registration centres at the PMCs.
Those renewing their national ID cards will also have to bring their expired card.
Dates to remember
The deadline for Emiratis across the country to apply for or renew ID card expired on October 31. All expatriates were also given an October 31 deadline to renew their expired cards.
Cardholders, except children under 15 years, are given 30 days to renew their cards from the date of expiry.
Deadline for expatriates in Sharjah to apply for ID card is January 31.
May 31, 2012 is the deadline for the expatriates in Dubai to apply for ID cards.
The deadline for expatriates in Ajman , Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah is on November 30, and March 31 in Abu Dhabi.
There will be a fine of Dh20 fine per day, gong up to a maximum of Dh 1000 (one thousand) after the deadline.
All children under 15 years of age, Emiratis and expatriates, are exempted from the fines until October 1, 2012.
