Historical Perspective
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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued one of
the oldest programmes regarding the registration of citizens, where a
Souls Register, known as (Hafizat Alnofoos), was issued in 1344 H.
(1926), in the various regions of the Kingdom, but at a regional and
not Kingdom level.
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The Kingdom started introducing a unified
registration system Kingdom-wide, by creating a 10-digit Register, which is allocated to a citizen when he reports on his
birthday, or when he visits the Civil Affairs Department for the first
time. It is the essence of all Ministry systems; Furthermore, upon which, many
institutions depend.
Chronological Sequence of Identification in the Kingdom
Saudis:
It was a form of ID proof issued by the general directorate of souls'
statistics, and named (the ticket for counting the souls of Saudi
tribes and Arab groups), and was given to the population of the desert
to proof their identities. It was approved by the prince or the Sheikh
of the tribe. It did not include information about the holder
relatives, such as the wives and sons. It was a small card made of
a reinforced carton, where information was recorded in both sides.
Daftar Alnofoos (Souls Book)
It is not much different from the Arban (Arab) ticket, but had nothing
to do with the Sheikh of the tribe. It seems it is issued basing on
facts, certificates and documents that are kept in a citizen's file for
future retrieve if needed. The Souls Book had been issued for all
citizens - who wished - from the urban areas or the desert.
Hafizat Alnofoos:
It is a form of record book that was a continuation of (Daftar
Alnofoos), with some improvements and additions, such as adding a place
to record the dependents of the card holder, and also adding pages to
record civil events and amendments made during the life of the holder.
Civil Affairs Identity Card:
It was invented after the entry of computers; and was considered a means of identification only.
Family Book:
It was a document invented with the Civil Affairs ID, in order to prove
the dependents like the children and wives. Besides, the various civil
events of these dependents were also recorded in that family book.
National Identity Card:
A card using a smart technology, which will serve in lieu of a number of
documents issued by the civil affairs, such as (the civil affairs card,
the family book, printouts, and birth certificates). The civil affairs
departments and offices issue it.
Family Register:
It is a developed form of the Family Book, which will be reinforced with new technologies to curb fraud.
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The Civil Affairs ID card was issued in 1983 H.
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The current ID card that includes a picture, and basic information was applied in the Kingdom for more than twenty years.
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The card is issued and delivered to the citizen on the same day, and its validity is ten years.
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It was based on the most appropriate security technologies in that time.
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Technology obsolescence makes it vulnerable to fraud and counterfeiting.
National Identity Card (Phase I)
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Due to probable mistakes in the process of
producing old documents, such as (ID card, family book, residence
permit, driving licence), because manual work is involved in part of
the production, as well as the easiness of forgery and counterfeiting,
at this phase, a move was made to produce these documents fully by
techniques of modern printing with very high-security features to curb
forgery and counterfeiting.
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Building
of work procedures within the sites of the sectors to increase
security of the issuance process, by creating access rights for
operators and separating them in order to control the issuance process
of these documents, ease follow-up and prevent any fraud.
National Identity Card by Laser Printing Technique (Phase II)
Why we move to the central printing?
The Project aims to enhance and improve the systems and procedures for
printing personal documents for the Ministry of Interior, including the
National Identity Card and the Family Register, for the following
reasons:
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Security and safety of raw cards.
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keep up with advances in personal documents
printing technology worldwide, by speeding the update and change of
systems and programmes.
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Keeping efforts, money and workforce for the operation and maintenance.