National ID Upgrade Slows Card Issuance

Sabika Shrestha

Most of the services of Nepal government are undergoing either upgrade or system change and National Identity Card is one of them.  

The NID system is undergoing upgrade for more secured and robust cards.

The Department of National ID and Civil Registration says that although some technical issues have emerged in the card issuance process, services are continuing.

For the past few weeks, applicants have been experiencing difficulties in obtaining National Identity Cards due to technical problems.

According to the department, the issue lies in the final verification stage of the application process, causing temporary inconvenience to service seekers.

However, it claims that all applicants are still being issued a National Identity Number (NIN), meaning there has been no disruption to services that require the identification number.

The department says work is underway to resolve the technical problems and all services are expected to return to normal within the next few days.

Kamal Prasad Pandey, Director of Department of National ID and Civil Registration, said, “Technically, we are working to make the system more capable and more effective. As a result, over the past few days, the approval process for a person’s National Identity Number (NIN), which is integrated across the system, has become slightly slower than before.”

However, service seekers complain that despite the department accepting applications, they have had to endure various hassles and have not received their National Identity Cards on time.

A service seeker said, “The government should speed up National ID services. The process has taken far too long, and the issue should be resolved as soon as possible so people do not have to suffer.”

The government is preparing to integrate the National Identity Card with all government services.

It has already linked the card with services including passports, foreign employment, social security, and the Office of the Company Registrar.

The National Identity Card is also now mandatory for services such as land and property transactions, revenue-related services, telecommunications, banking, and other financial services.

According to the department, it has so far issued National Identity Numbers (NINs) to 20.17 million people and distributed National Identity Cards to 4 million Nepalis.