ABU DHABI - The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship has announced the start of the first phase of issuing the new version of the Emirates Identity Card as part of the transition to the upgraded generation of identity cards and passports.

The authority called on the "identity renewal service applicants" category to use the electronic version of the ID in all services of various sectors until the issuance of the printed cards.

The authority stated that the electronic version of the ID is an exact copy of the printed card and is available via the authority's smart application "ICA UAE Smart", which can be downloaded for free from the IOS and Android stores.

The electronic version can be used via "QR Code" scanning technology, to enable immediate reading of the card, as it is automatically generated when entering the customer’s document wallet in the smart application.

The electronic ID card is characterised by all the data shown on the card, through reading it directly from the authority's database. This process helps service authorities to verify the effectiveness of the issued card in case the printed card is not available.

The authority stated that coordination has been made with the concerned authorities, service and business sectors to provide their services using the electronic version of the ID via the Authority's smart application.

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2021.