EIDA to open 3 new registration centers

The UAE government had earlier this year finalized a fee structure for the national ID card, under which the UAE nationals would pay AED 100 to register and obtain the new card with a validity of five years. The registration fee for expatriates is linked to the validity period of their visas. An expatriate holding a one-year visa will be charged AED 100, with the fee going up in multiples of AED 100 for each year up to AED 300 for an individual holding a three-year visa.

EIDA said three new registration centers will open in the first quarter of 2007. These will be located in Al Taawon Center in Sharjah, Delma Island and Dubai Municipality. The Delma Island registration center will function in cooperation with the Tam Center for Integrated Services. The Dubai Municipality center will be dedicated to register municipal employees.

Mohammed Hadef Al- Shamsi, Manager of Marketing and Population Services, said that the new registration centers will make it easier for people to register under the Population Register and ID Card (PRIDC) system.

Al-Shamsi confirmed that more than 130,000 citizens have registered under the PRIDC program so far.

"EIDA has adopted a multi-phase registration strategy designed to facilitate orderly registration of all people in the UAE. In the first phase, only citizens are being registered selectively, beginning with government employees. This process will continue until the end of 2008. The registration of residents will start later on," Al Shamsi said.