New ID centres speed up process

ABU DHABI // The Emirates Identity Authority has opened a new national ID card registration centre in Al Ain and plans to have another operating in Abu Dhabi by the end of the month. A large registration centre in Musaffah will replace two of the current registration centres in the city, with the centre at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre remaining open for the time being. Dr Ali al Khouri, the deputy chairman of the authority's higher management committee, said the layout of the previous office was confusing, "making people go into a weird process".

"The layout we had previously required two or three offices," he said. "With the new process, each office functions as a single registration unit, which is faster by 70 per cent." The open-plan design is intended to improve the flow of people, and give them an overview of the registration process before they begin. "We want to be very transparent. Nobody is going to be favoured over another." The rest of the emirate's registration centres will adopt the new layout by the end of next year.

On May 2, the authority announced that ID cards would be mandatory for drivers applying for a licence or registering a vehicle. However, just a week later, after registration centres were overwhelmed by a rush of applicants, that decision was reversed. Since then, the authority has introduced 23 typing centres - six of which opened for the first time yesterday - with trained staff to help people complete their application forms and scan their passports.

The typing centres also arrange appointments at the registration centre for fingerprints to be scanned and photographs taken. Applicants are sent their appointment times by text message. They were intended to shift some of the work of the registration centres, to improve waiting times, Mr al Khouri said. The authority hopes that by the end of the year it will be registering about 8,000 applicants a day. Currently it can handle about 5,000.

@Email:mdetrie@thenational.ae