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local
news
Card expiry dates get identity crisis
Plans
to give ID cards an overhaul leads to queue confusion
Nobody likes queuing, but most of us regard it as a necessary evil
when things need to be done.
However, members of the public who patiently stood in line recently
to renew their ID cards got a shock when they found out that their
wait had only given them three months of respite. Having been given
their new cards, they noticed that they were only valid for April
until June.
On going to query whether there was a mistake, the people were told
that the ID cards only had a three-month validity date, because
the department intended to produce new cards for the whole population
from June onwards.
One bemused woman said: "I was resigned to queuing to get my
card, but I thought, at least, I wouldn't be doing it again for
a five years. Now it looks like I'll have to come back in June."
The confusion appears to stem from the department's intention to
give the Maltese ID card an overhaul this summer, replacing it with
a new, plastic model.
But the people in the queues said that whereas they had no problem
with the phasing out of the old cards, they resented having to queue
twice in three months.
"I wish they had simply told me to go away and come back in
June," an elderly man said. "I ended up queuing because
I needed to change my address. But I would certainly have left it
for now if I knew I was going to have to come back in three months."
Asked to comment, a spokesman for the Office of the Electoral Commission
told MaltaToday that plans were in place to start replacing identity
cards with new plastic ones towards the middle of this year.
"Substitution of ID cards due to changes in personal particulars,
such as in surname or door number or a change of residence, however,
is still being carried out and our ID card offices are regularly
open to the public for these purposes," George Saliba said.
Asked whether there was some inconvenience being caused to people
who were queuing with the prospect of having to queue again presently,
Mr Saliba stressed that a legal notice which was published in the
Government Gazette last year validates, until further notice, all
identity cards issued prior to 1 January, 2000, even though they
show expiry dates which have either run out or will be running out.
However, this was little comfort for people who thought their wait-in-line
was limited to a one-off trip every five years.
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