The administration of Sheikhan district in Nineveh province has resolved the issue of issuing national cards with the opening of a new center. This center issues over 100 national cards daily for citizens.
The opening of the new center comes at a time when Kirkuk Now previously reported that citizens faced challenges in obtaining national cards, often having to endure long queues with up to 40,000 people ahead of them.
Ziad Barzanji, the mayor of Sheikhan district, informed KirkukNow, "After extensive efforts by the mayor's office and the district's representative in the Iraqi parliament, the new center was inaugurated last February.”
Falah Hassan, the Mukhtar (elected representative) of two neighborhoods in the center of Sheikhan, stated to KirkukNow, "The opening of the center has alleviated the previous crowding at the office.”
The Sheikhan national card office has been operational since 2022. The temporary congestion at national card offices in some areas is due to the Ministry of Interior's decision to halt processing the current civil status and citizenship cards, which are to be replaced solely by national cards.
Each national card transaction takes over half an hour, assuming no congestion or slow internet connection, as it involves detailed personal information, fingerprints, and eye scans, which are then transmitted to the main center in Baghdad.
"Now, citizen transactions are proceeding smoothly. One issue was the delayed start of national card issuance in Sheikhan," Hassan mentioned.
Sheikhan is a district in Nineveh province, administratively belonging to Duhok northern province. The population exceeds 172,000 people, as estimated by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Statistical Board.
