National ID bills heading to parliament

(CNS): Legislation for the mandatory national identification register and the supporting but voluntary ID card system is set to be debated in parliament next month. The proposed legislation was gazetted Friday, opening a public consultation period of three weeks. Once passed, the law paves the way for government officials to begin compiling the register of legal residents based in the first instance on the information held by WORC.

The system will provide a secure means of verified identification for everyone who lives here for everything, from doing business with the government to meeting the Know Your Customer requirements at the bank.

Officials explained that WORC contains basic information on all current or former work permit holders, permanent residents, people with Caymanian status and the details of locals who have ever travelled using a passport. After that, children and Caymanians who have never travelled and other missing individuals will be added using the general registry.

While the register will be compiled with basic information from existing data held by the government, members of the public will need to apply for a card but will be able to choose how much information beyond the basic facts can be linked to the card and accessed. The basic information will be the cardholder’s name, date of birth, nationality, sex, immigration status and their…