iGA’s Muharraq ID Card centre shifts to normal working days

The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) yesterday announced that its Seef Mall – Muharraq branch, offering to update ID card details, will remain closed on Saturdays.

The centre will function as usual on normal working days from Sunday to Thursday, along with the Isa Town branch, which will continue to offer this specific service on Saturdays until further notice. The opening days for both branches were previously extended from five to six days to accommodate a heavy backlog of applications for the updating of ID card details.

iGA Director of Identity & Population Registry, Shaikh Sabah bin Hamad Al Khalifa said that the decision to change the working days was made after the processing of these applications reduced the workload, allowing for greater appointment availability during official government working hours.

He said that the branches were able to satisfy more than 11,000 ID chip updating requests on Saturdays during the second half of 2019, a 20 per cent increase in output compared to the first half. He added that iGA is directing its resources towards providing most ID card related services electronically, in line with directives from the Minister of Interior General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa to streamline procedures and improve the quality levels of services.

iGA had announced on 13 July 2019 that both its Seef Mall – Muharraq and Isa Town ID centres would be open from 8 am to 2 pm on Saturdays only to citizens who want to update the details of the ID card chip. To make an online appointment, customers can visit the National Portal bahrain.bh, choose ‘Appointments Booking and Enquiry’ under Identity Card Services.

For more inquiries, customers can use the national suggestions and complaints system ‘Tawasul’, available on the National Portal and at bahrain.bh/ apps.