The National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) has started issuing out identity cards to legally non Ugandans.
According to the Manager of Public Relations and Corporate Affairs at NIRA, Osborn Mushabe, as of Thursday, over 1,800 aliens had been documented, with 1,500 IDs ready for pick up.
He noted that the first group of aliens picked up their IDs from Lumumba Avenue in Kampala on Thursday.
He noted that that aliens register with the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) before continuing to NIRA for registration.
“The cards will have aliens do business without having to involve middlemen,” he said.
He however further noted that the aliens are not allowed to vote.
“Aliens can access all the services, like Ugandans, they can register SIM cards with the telecoms. They can register and get bank accounts. They can even start up businesses and so on, but they are not allowed to vote,” he said.
The NIRA Registrar Claire Ollama, revealed that the cards will be picked from wherever the holder was registered, noting that the cards validity matches that of the foreigners work permit.
Ms Ollama noted that unlike the National ID issued to Ugandan citizens, the Alien ID contains security features designed to distinguish foreigners from citizens.
Ollama said the card carries a photograph covered partly by a hologram, as well as a ghost image whose placement differs from that on a citizen’s National ID.
“For the citizen, the ghost image falls in Uganda, in the map of Uganda. For the foreigner, the image falls inside the global map,” she said.
Another differentiator between the id’s are the identification numbers, whereby the Ugandans are identified using a National Identification Number (NIN), while foreign nationals receive a separate identification number under the Alien ID system.
