UAE adds iris scans to foreign labor identification cards

We have often pointed out that smart biometrics companies should pay close attention to cultural trends. Consider as an example the new United Arab Emerites national ID program, which Card Technology reports “would be the first mandatory use of iris patterns as a biometric identifier” on such a card. The card was launched a few years ago with a fingerprint identifer, which was fine when the government began enrolling its citizens. Now, however, it is moving forward with issuing identification cards to the 80 percent of its population that is of Indian and Pakistani extract — most of whom are manual laborers with extremely [u]rough hands[/u]. (The national ID program was launched after a January 2003 amnesty granted by UAE authorities to illegal immigrants to leave the country.) Iris scans will ensure that even the most leathery will be enrollled. Following trends in other companies, then UAE ID card also serves as a residence and labor card, and there are plans to encorporate health care and passport data as well.