Great news today thanks to the eagle-eyed team of uber-hacks at The National, which reports that the National ID card mess was, in fact, a waste of time.
Yes! From next year, the Labour Card and Residency Permit will be merged with the National ID Card to provide a single card and a single process for applying for it.
So all that going online and mucking about with the application application, wrestling with unusable websites and making appointments months ahead was about quite what? As bloggers and others have been pointing out for some time, on a 3-year visa cycle, integrating the National ID and residency processes would have meant the whole thing could have been implemented without the confusion, fuss and mess.
In fact, The National report has this telling quote from the acting director of EIDA, Dr. Ali al Khouri: “I will admit that we did not market the card properly at the outset. So now we are wanting to market it in such a way that shows how beneficial it is for people to have.”
Anyway, let's not be negative. The good news is that we'll have a single card and a single transaction platform for almost all our dealings with government. And, for those of us that actually bothered in the end to do the ID card thing, the process of migrating to the new, integrated, card will be seamless, apparently. We 'have to do nothing'...
We shall see...
6 comments:
From the National's report - "Under the new system, however, applicants will go to one of the authority’s offices and fill out a single form. "
This is possibly the most optimistic statement ever written by a UAE journalist.
I'm just glad I didn't waste a day dragging my family down there to go thru the process. What a complete waste of time and energy! Think of all the hours of pointless debate on this topic on Dubai Eye last year....
I don't have a labor card -- never have had as far as I know. So I guess I need the ID anyway?
So, do we have to submit a DNA sample for the new database while were down there?
No understand! My long awaited ID appointment is on the 22nd. Do I need the ID card or can I - please!- call and tell them to stick their appointment somewhere? I'm none the wiser after reading the article.
I came to know Dr. Khouri, the General Manager of Emirates Identity Card Authority in one of the conferences he was a speaker at. He is a bright and modest person. The thing i like most about him is his wide knowledge, and his objective of improving government work, and improve public service. I am sure that he in the time to come, we will see massive improvement in the UAE government. Let us be optimistic.
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