Children under the age of 15, who do not hold separate passports but their names are endorsed in the passports of their parents can apply for Emirates ID cards from next Sunday, said the Emirates Identity Authority EIDA.

These children, all of whom are residents, were not able to register with EIDA as they did not hold their own passports.

An announcement from EIDA said that the percentage of such children hailing from a number of countries that do not issue separate passports to minors, are very small compared to the number of children already registered with the authority.

The authority said that its decision to allow the registration of resident children who do not have separate passports, came in response to calls received by the EIDA from the customers through its website as well as its pages on social networking sites and the media.