JEDDAH — More than three million 15 plus Saudi women do not possess the national identity card, said Mohammed Al-Jasser, spokesman of the Civil Status Department. He stressed the need to open more department offices to meet the needs of growing population.
Al-Jasser’s comments came as women visitors at the department’s office in Jeddah complained about long delays in receiving national IDs. “We have been receiving appointments for distant dates due to large number of women applying for the cards,” said Rasha.
Rasha said she had to wait for a long time to get the ID while Umm Ahmed, another applicant, said she took more than two hours to get the procedures completed. “Giving appointments for distant dates was causing a lot of problems for applicants,” Rasha told Al-Madinah Arabic daily.
Al-Jasser, meanwhile, emphasized the department’s efforts to ensure quick distribution of IDs. It has increased the electronic appointment system’s capacity and established mobile units to extend quick service to a large number of applicants across the country.
“Our offices are overcrowded with women applicants as they need national ID cards for official purposes,” Al-Jasser told the Arabic daily. National ID is required for university admission and for completing various procedures at the Passports Department, courts, telecom companies and the National Center for Assessment in Higher Education.
The department has established 44 women’s offices across the Kingdom. “We would like to increase the number of women’s offices to 107 to be equal to men’s offices,” he said, adding that the department was making all-out efforts to open new women’s offices.
“We have increased the capacity of electronic appointment system to accommodate more women applicants,” Al-Jasser said. “Some offices operate at the weekends too while some others in the evening hours to meet growing demand of ID applicants,” he said.
The department has increased the number of mobile units in various parts of the Kingdom. Mobile units were present recently in Al-Laith and Yanbu. “Our offices complete 104,000 procedures in a week. There are more than three million Saudi women who have completed 15 and have not obtained their national identity cards,” he said while explaining the reason for overcrowding of applicants.
The department has put 11 conditions for issuing national IDs. The applicant should be Saudi and aged not less than 18. However, the law allows issuing of the ID cards to applicants who have completed 15, if necessary. The application form should be attached with a 6x4 color photo with neck and hair covered, without using any cosmetics, showing face with all its features and without any glasses.
Other requirements are a copy of the Family Civil ID, documents proving profession, a copy of the divorce agreement with its original or an endorsed copy in case it was difficult to produce the original. If widow, the husband’s death certificate has to be produced. The woman’s guardian or close relative should also be present to prove her identity.
The applicant can also bring a Saudi female relative or two women who are not relatives or her recent passport to prove her identity, the paper said.
