Biometric personal identification documents issued to over 160,000 Belarusians
MINSK, 15 March (BelTA) – About 165,000 citizens have been issued biometric personal identification documents in Belarus, BelTA learned from Pavel Khrishchenovich, Deputy Chief of the Citizenship and Migration Department of the Belarusian Internal Affairs Ministry.
The Internal Affairs Ministry continues issuing personal identification documents leveraging biometric technologies. “Citizens of the Republic of Belarus can opt for biometric documents while foreign citizens are mandated to get them. As of today slightly more than 2% of the country's population has been issued biometric documents. If we talk about figures, Belarus citizens have been issued 165,000 ID cards. Over 58,000 residence permits (ID cards for foreign citizens and stateless persons) have been issued. Over 135,000 biometric passports for foreign travels have been issued,” Pavel Khrishchenovich said.
Minsk is the leader in terms of the number of biometric documents that have been issued – nearly 41,000 ID cards and 42,000 passports. It is followed by Gomel Oblast where 38,000 ID cards and 25,000 passports have been issued. Vitebsk Oblast is the last one in the top three, with 21,900 ID cards and 15,000 passports issued.