DUSHANBE, April 3, 2014, Asia-Plus — Based on a presidential decree of September 20, 2013, authorities began issuing new identification cards for citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan on April 1, 2014.
Currently, only residents of Dushanbe may receive the identification cards while in other regions, the procedure of replacement of paper passport with electronic identification cards will start later, a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the cost of the identification card is 45.00 somoni.
An identification card is an official document, which identifies a person, including in various electronic systems, which is usually made in a format of a plastic card.
An identification card usually contains information about the holder of the card in text, machine-reading and electronic formats, including his/her photograph, name, personal number, specimen signature, and biometric information, written into an electronic chip or on a magnetic strip.
Electronic identification cards will fully replace the regular 16-page passports. Under the decree, the issuance of the identification cards was supposed to begin on 1 March, 2014. With that, the internal passport of the citizen of the Republic of Tajikistan is valid within the territory of Tajikistan until its expiration, which means that both the electronic and the paper document will be valid.
The president assigned to the government to inform foreign states about the new identification cards, and ensure their recognition as an international identification document in order to ensure Tajik citizens’ travels abroad.
