Electronic chip in national ID card lasts five years, Eida says

Abu Dhabi, Mar 10,2011 (GN): The Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) has fixed a five-year validity for Emiratis' national ID card because of the five-year life span of the electronic chip in the card, the authority said Wednesday in a statement.
The life span of the electronic chip in the national ID card is five years, Eida said.
There may be biological changes in an individual due to ageing which affected biometrics such as fingerprinting, an authority statement said.
"Such changes have to be recorded into the system," Eida said.
Other reasons for fixing a five-year validity period were possible changes in an individual's address, academic qualification, career and marital status, the statement said.
"The information on the system has to be updated in accordance with such changes," the authority's statement read.
However, the statement did not say what prompted the authority to explain the reasons behind the validity of the card.
The authority said it was upgrading the standard of the card to make it more useful.
The validity of the cards for expatriates ends with the expiry of their residence visa.
Meanwhile, a senior Abu Dhabi Government official said the online services provided by the Abu Dhabi e-government [project] supported the use of the ID card as a fundamental tool to verify the identity of service beneficiaries.
Rasheed Lahej Al Mansouri, Director General of Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre, praised the efforts made to complete the work to link the ID card project and e-government services.
In a recent meeting attended by centre and Eida officials, the authority gave an update on the progress achieved in the project and the time-frame for the remaining work. The technical work of the project is expected to be completed by the end of April this year.
The strategic objective to activate the electronic ID application project is to facilitate secure online transactions across the UAE through verifying the identity of the user and the beneficiaries of the services, said the Eida statement.
Meanwhile, a delegation from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan visited the Eida head office to become familiarised with its strategic projects.
Dr Eng Ali Al Khoury, Director General of Eida, welcomed the delegation led by Tarek Malek, NADRA Deputy Chairman, who also made a presentation on the prominent projects of NADRA, particularly the ID registration project and other projects for setting up a national database in Pakistan.