Employers will have to bear the cost of Emirates ID card: Eida Chief

Although there is no legal directive that compels companies to bear the cost of Emirates ID, Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) chief says companies should take up the responsibility of paying the cost of ID cards for their employees.

“There is no legal directive on who should pay the fees for the ID cards. Since now the visa issuance is linked to the Emirates ID process, we expect companies to bear the cost. We are taking up the matter with higher authorities and are reviewing the matter,” Dr Ali Al Khouri, Director General, Eida, told Emirates 24l7.

He added that a few public sector entities and private companies had already begun bearing the cost of the issuing Emirates ID for their employees.

“There are companies in both public and private sector that are now paying for the ID for their employees. We believe companies have to bear the cost of the ID as the card issuance is linked to visa.”

Employees in the public sector pay Dh300 (Dh100 per year for three year visa) for the card, while private sector employees pay Dh200 (Dh100 per year for two year visa) . The other charges (typing and admin) total to Dh70.

Emirates24|7 reported earlier that the Eida strategy 2010–2013 was to become the principle reference for establishing personal identity and providing population data in the UAE.

“Eida is continuously coordinating with the government entities to accomplish the electronic linkage system project to update the personal information and maintain immediate accurate data of the individuals that is highly protected and confidential,” a spokesperson had said.

As a result, in the future the official cards will be replaced with Emirates ID, which will be reflected by the completion of the population register and ID card project, in addition to the electronic linkage system project, which is expected to be done by 2013.

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