When, why is your Emirates ID cancelled, destroyed?

UAE residents are given 90-day grace period to collect their Emirates IDs from their chosen post office location, or else they are returned to the Emirates Identity Authority (Eida), which in turns destroys it.

Once the card is printed, the Emirates ID sends it to Emirates Post for delivery. The post subsequently sends a text message informing the customer about the same and requesting to collect the card at the post office specified in the application form.

“If the customer does not collect the card within 90 days, Emirates Post returns it to Eida, which in turn destroys the card,” the authority states in its website.

In response to a question by Emirates 24|7 on why the card is destroyed, an Eida spokesperson said: “This was a policy between us and Emirates Post to insure that no ID cards are left uncollected for a long time since we issue a large number of ID cards daily that are sent to Emirates Post for distribution.”

Those seeking a replacement card, however, have to pay Dh300 fee. This is in addition to the initial cost of application, which the applicant has already paid.

Asked if there were any circumstances in which the person’s ID card was not destroyed, the spokesperson said: “No, they are all canceled once they are returned to us by the post office.”

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