'Forgot name, 'forgot' age - people find it difficult to renew their ID cards

(Baonghean) - Hundreds of applications for ID card renewal of Tan Ky district (Nghe An) residents have not been processed. Some people have been waiting for nearly half a year without receiving a new ID card.

More than 4 months have not been issued a new ID card

Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh currently resides in Ky Tan commune, Tan Ky district, but his hometown is in Nam Xuan commune (Nam Dan). Mr. Linh's ID card shows his date of birth as September 2, 1954. However, all other related documents such as his birth certificate, family register, and retirement records show his date of birth as September 2, 1950. This causes him many difficulties when doing transactions at the bank or going to the doctor.

Mr. Linh applied for a new ID card, stating his year of birth as 1950 to match all his existing documents. However, it has been nearly 4 months since he submitted his application to Tan Ky District Police, and he still does not have a new ID card. “I have asked Tan Ky District Police many times and received the answer that the application is in the process of being processed,” said Mr. Linh.

Similarly, Ms. Le Thi Phu (residing in Tan Long commune, Tan Ky district) is originally from Dai Son commune (Do Luong). Ms. Phu's ID card shows her date of birth as June 6, 1952, while other documents show her date of birth as October 10, 1949. Ms. Phu applied for a new ID card, stating her correct date of birth as October 10, 1949, but to date, she has not been issued a new ID card.

Tan Ky District Police take fingerprints and process ID card issuance for people. Photo: Phuong Thao

Tan Ky district has 730 applications for ID card correction.In particular, the main errors are about hometown and year of birth. It is worth mentioning that the process of correcting errors and issuing new ID cards for citizens is very slow. Lieutenant Colonel Duong Thanh Canh - Deputy Head of Tan Ky District Police said: The slow correction of ID cards is not due to the police force making things difficult or harassing people, but requires time to look up and verify information and people must have original documents.

In the past, Tan Ky was an area with many farms and forestry farms, people from inside and outside the province came here to live and work, this was the reason for the errors in their ID cards. According to regulations, a citizen's hometown is his or her father's hometown. Even though he or she has moved to live in Tan Ky district for many years, the hometown recorded on the citizen's ID card must be the original hometown.

The delay in reissuing ID cards is mainly due to incorrect birth year. 80% of the total number of records with incorrect birth year are from retired cadres. These people were workers in former farms and forestry farms. When the State changed their welfare regime, they re-declared their documents to retire early. Therefore, there is a discrepancy between the date of birth on the ID card and related documents.

"Correcting the date of birth requires a strict verification and assessment process. As in the case of Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh and Ms. Le Thi Phu mentioned above, Nghe An Provincial Police require verification of the legality of the birth registration procedure at the original hometown, from which there is sufficient basis to correct the ID card error," said Lieutenant Colonel Danh.

Timely solution

The number of unprocessed correction files being kept at Tan Ky District Police is still quite large. Photo: Phuong Thao

With a large number of applications for correction, Tan Ky District Police are implementing many solutions to shorten the time for verifying information, gradually reducing the number of cases of late ID card returns. In particular, improving the capacity and awareness of serving the people of the team of officers and soldiers directly in charge of ID card issuance and replacement procedures.

At the same time, maintain good coordination between police forces of various units and between police forces with the judiciary and post office; strengthen administrative reform in the field of issuance and management of ID cards, creating the most favorable conditions for people.

In addition to errors in hometown and year of birth, some cases of late ID card returns compared to regulations are for citizens who are elderly, sick, have difficulty traveling, and cannot come directly to the police headquarters. For these cases, Tan Ky District Police implemented "Saturday for the People", sending many officers to the families to complete procedures to issue ID cards for the elderly, sick, etc.

Since the beginning of the year, Tan Ky District Police have directly made ID cards for more than 1,000 priority subjects, and issued and renewed 9,521 ID cards for people in 22 communes and towns in the area.

In addition to the police's solutions, people who have errors on their ID cards and need to reissue them also need to coordinate well with the police force, fully declare information, and provide complete original documents (if any) to quickly complete the procedure, avoiding delays.

Phuong Thao