The Bahrain government says there was mass adoption of virtual ID and civil registration platforms in 2023, with 743,000 identity transactions carried out online.
The Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) says of this number of ID transactions, over 700,000 of them were completed using a dedicated government portal, smart devices and other online methods, The Daily Tribune reports.
Some of the services sought included issuance, renewal and replacement of some ID documents, civil records data update, address information update, viewing and printing of ID card details, as well as ID card declarations.
Sheikh Subah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Director of iGA’s Identity and Population Registry, welcomed the development, saying it aligns with the government’s vision of integrating cutting-edge virtual to make service delivery more available and transparent.
The project to expand access to identification services using online channels is overseen by the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Information and Communication Technology, Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa.
Per the iGA official, digitizing access to government services is an important step in Bahrain’s digital transformation process – the major objective being to cut the time and cost needed to obtain certain services, and in a convenient and secure manner.
The media outlet mentions that with the growing inclination towards the digitalization of identity services, programs that require physical contact in Bahrain now represent barely 5% of all transactions and that they basically fear the first issuance of residence permits, the updating biometric knowledge such as fingerprints, as well as updating signatures, among other services.
According to Sheikh Subah, to achieve this goal, the government has invested in knowledge sharing and automated processing systems, as well as strengthening the capacities of the technical staff of the Identity Directorate.
Other novelties with the country’s identification services introduced in 2023 include a national birth system, a births and deaths records digital archiving project and a Central Population Registry System.
Earlier this year, HID Global won a biometric passport contract in Bahrain.
Bahrain | Biometrics | Marital Status | Digital Government | Digital ID | Identity Management
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