emirates7 - A local newspaper has said that this year, as the UAE's population exceeds 10 million, authorities are implementing a major to the Emirates ID card, announcing that from 11th April it will serve as a replacement to visa stickers inserted into foreign residents’ passports.

In an editorial on Thursday, The National said, "Today, the Emirates ID is a fundamental part of UAE life, used not only as proof of residency, but even as a health insurance card. Soon, it will be used as a kind of travel document, too."

The move is another step towards simplifying the way residents interact with government, a mission that has received particular attention in recent years, in large part made possible by the release of a new generation of cards last August. New features include non-visible data and a service life of more than 10 years.

The daily added, "This efficiency is about more than people spending less time accessing and waiting for services, although that is still an important goal. It is about creating a state that can stay flexible in the face of rapid technological change. The UAE is aiming to make itself a leader in this regard.

In 2013, it launched Smart Government, an initiative that seeks to a "government that never sleeps", is as "hospitable as hotels" and helps people be happy, among other targets. Technology will make this possible, as only it can keep pace with the rapid comings-and-goings of the modern UAE economy.

The paper continued, "But new technology in identity checks is about more than efficiency. As people, money and goods become more mobile, keeping track of crime and fraud is harder. Perhaps the biggest security change to identity documents in recent years has been the use of biometric data, including fingerprints, facial recognition and eye scanners, technology endorsed heavily by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

In the UAE, such records are stored in encrypted formats for extra security. Other physical changes to official documents include increasingly complex holograms, intaglio printing (images that can only be seen at particular angles), sophisticated edge design on the ends of pages, watermarks and, crucially, polycarbonate materials, far harder to tamper with and replicate than paper. Finland has led in this regard, using the technique in its driver’s licence in 1989 and in its passport data page in 1995. Printed visa stickers, far easier to copy, will probably be on the way out globally in the decades ahead.

The Abu Dhabi-based daily concluded by saying, "The UAE, a country with such a high share of its growing population on visas, is putting itself at the forefront of this change. If it can execute its wider goal of simplifying the relationship between state and citizen, it will be at the forefront of many other significant changes to come."