An Iraqi national ID card
Interior Ministry denies Syrian firm involvement in national ID project
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Interior Ministry on Monday rejected claims circulating on social media that the project to merge the national ID card with the housing card had been awarded to a Syrian company, saying the information is false and contradicts established legal and administrative procedures.
In a statement, the ministry said, “What has been circulated on some social media platforms regarding the referral of the project to merge the national ID card with the housing card to a Syrian company is untrue and has no basis in fact.”
In a post, MP Mustafa Jabar Sanad claimed that the caretaker government plans to refer the project to merge the national ID card with the housing card to a Syrian company linked to “one of [Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa] Jolani’s friends,” saying the decision is scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday’s agenda. “We are calling on public opinion leaders after we lost hope in political partners,” he wrote, adding that the database would be held by the company and that the cost would be borne by citizens.
The ministry said the civil information system “is a purely national system,” adding that it is “managed entirely by the staff of the Directorate of Civil Status, Passports and Residence, in accordance with the provisions of the National ID Card Law No. 3 of 2016.”
It also clarified that the technical company implementing the project is “the German company Veridos,” describing it as “a specialized international company that has obtained all required security approvals from the relevant higher authorities,” and noting that it “has accompanied the implementation of the project since its launch until the present time,” contrary to what was circulated online.
Regarding the integration of the housing card with the national ID, the ministry said the step is “an independent project” based on Article 35 (First) of the National ID Card Law, which provides for “adopting the national ID card by government and non-government entities to prove the identity of the citizen and define Iraqi nationality,” and establishes it “as a substitute for the nationality certificate, civil status ID and housing card,” while relying on a unified identification number in state records to safeguard citizens’ civil, legal and human rights.
The ministry said housing information is incorporated into the national ID’s civil information system “through a simplified technical method,” in line with developments in modern documentation systems.
The clarification follows a government push to complete the unified national ID system. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani chaired a meeting Sunday on the governance of the national ID project and its integration with the housing card, during which officials reviewed plans to adopt the unified card as the central system for managing citizens’ personal data and expanding electronic services. Al-Sudani directed that the project be completed “as quickly as possible” to reduce paperwork and limit citizens’ visits to government offices.