JEDDAH, 12 April 2004 — As part of the Kingdom’s introduction of e-government, the Interior Ministry says the long-awaited smart Saudi IDs and family cards, expatriates’ resident permits and driving licenses will be introduced “soon”.
Dr. Khaled Muhammad Al-Taweel, director of the National Data Center at the ministry, said the new electronic cards with high security features would prevent forgery. The new cards will have a luminous strip where information is stored.
He explained that the new electronic residence permit for expatriates, replacing the old iqama, would contain all information about the holder. A picture of the holder will be included on the card, he added.
The permit will bear the full name of the worker in both Arabic and English, the number, expiry date, photo, date of birth, nationality, profession, religion and the employer’s full name.
Al-Taweel said the cards were designed to accommodate new information related to the holder including his or her family.
“The new smart card contains a number of applications related to driving license, passports, fingerprints, electronic signature, etc.,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying.
The information on the card cannot be changed or removed, according to Al-Taweel.
“They also contain security features of high quality to prevent forgery,” he added.
Nasser Al-Hanaya, assistant deputy interior minister of civil affairs, said ID cards would be issued to women who requested them.
He said the new family card would hold information for up to 13 members. The ministry has already trained 600 employees to process the applications and issue new IDs and residence permits.
Al-Hanaya said the present IDs and iqamas would remain valid until the new electronic cards are issued in their place. “It will take some time to issue the new cards,” he said.
He also announced plans to issue special IDs for tribal nomads.
“These will be different from Saudi IDs,” he added.
The ministry has been working on the new electronic personal documents for the past three years. “They will first be introduced in Riyadh and then in other parts of the Kingdom,” Al-Taweel said.
Col. Abdul Rahman Al-Rasheed, head of technical affairs at the Passports Department, said there will be no additional fees for the new electronic IDs and residence permits.
Asked whether the new IDs would help Saudis travel to GCC countries without their passports, Al-Rasheed said, “We are now coordinating with the GCC member states in order to identify the technical requirements.”
