The Straits Times

5 April 2014

NRIC vital for identification

THE National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) is an important official document used for identification purposes ("IC only means of identification?" by Mr Selwyn Gerard Galistan; March 20). It is used in official transactions between an individual and government/private agencies.

As such, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) requires that the original NRIC be produced for the collection of a new biometric passport.

While the passport and driving licence bear some identification details, they are not the official documents used for identification purposes.

The requirement to produce the NRIC when collecting passports is stated on the ICA website and in the passport collection notification issued to applicants.

If an applicant has lost his NRIC, he must report the loss to the ICA, and he will be advised on the alternative collection procedures for his new passport.

Vincent Ng

Head, Public & Internal Communications

Corporate Communications Division

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority

<Original Letter>

The Straits Times

20 March 2014

 

IC only means of identification?

 

ON MARCH 11, I visited the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building to collect my new biometric passport.

 

But I was told that I could not do so as I did not have my identity card with me.

 

What is perplexing is that I had with me my old (and still valid) biometric passport and my driving licence. And if these were not enough to prove my identity, my thumb print would have sufficed.

 

I travel frequently, and often at a moment's notice, for work. Instead of carrying my IC, it has become a habit to have my passport with me at all times, as it serves as a form of identification the world over.

 

Why does the ICA stick to a standard procedure that does not seem logical and causes unnecessary inconvenience?

 

Why is the IC accepted as the only means of identifying a person?

 

Selwyn Gerard Galistan