Emirates ID Card registration date not extended, but extended?

Yeah, as confusing as it may sound, that’s how it is.

Darwish Ahmad Al Zarouni, Director-General of the EIDA, says,

“We will announce the time frame for new categories of expatriates on February 1, 2009, but the registration will continue (for the existing category) throughout the month of January.”

This means that EIDA has not extended the deadline but in effect provided a month long grace period for registration.

This also means that expartirate professionals who are not rushing for ID card registration now, standing in long queues and waiting for hours to go through the registration process, may face less rush when they visit registration centers, past December 31 deadline.

However, this can backfire too as everybody starts thinking on the same lines and wait for the deadline to pass. In that case, EIDA is going to have its hands full post December 31.

Confusing, isn’t it?