RIYADH, 25 October — The government is making preparations to issue multipurpose Saudi IDs and iqamas (resident permits) for expatriates in the form of smart cards, Al-Watan newspaper reported quoting an Interior Ministry source.
The Arabic daily said Saudis and expatriates will be asked to produce their new smart cards when they make financial dealings to avoid forgery and illegal transactions.
The ministry is making preparations to issue one million Saudi electronic ID cards in Riyadh in the first phase, the paper said, adding that the new cards will be valid for 10 years.
The source said the ministry decided to issue new smart cards in order to prevent forging of IDs. The new cards will contain information related to driving licenses, passports, road license, health file and insurance details.
He said the new system will enable authorities to renew driving and road licenses, passports and iqamas automatically.
"With the present magnetic ID cards, the authorities cannot make any changes in the information they contain and cannot store information on other aspects. But in the new cards they will be able to feed various information," he explained.
The new cards in the form of automatic teller machine (ATM) cards. In the first year of implementation, the ministry will check whether the new system has any shortcomings that need to be corrected.
The new cards will help the government feed various information about Saudis and expatriates. "This is not a new experiment. More than 1.5 billion smart cards are now in use around the world," the source said. "About 800 million of these cards are found in Europe alone. Even China has started implementing smart cards despite the size of its population," he added.
