The Identita agency is currently in the process of renewing 160,000 identity cards of Maltese citizens that were issued ten years ago and that will expire this year. The Government said that so far, 119,679 have been renewed in Malta and Gozo of Maltese and Gozitan citizens.

This service will now be offered within different local councils across Malta and Gozo in an effort to make it easier for people to renew their ID cards. In total, there are around 72,000 identity cards that still need to be replaced.

The same service through local councils of renewing Identity Cards on Gozo has already been completed. The Government said that this is the result of an effort to speed up the process and provide services closer to the residents.

During this year’s EXPO, Identita provided the Identity Card renewal service where a record 860 applications were made – an increase of more than 60% of the applications submitted last year during the same event, the Government said.

The Chief Executive of Identita, Edric Zahra, said that the agency is extending this service to localities so that the public is better served and in the comfort of their respective locality, with less hassle, in light of the increase in requests for the services provided by Identita.

He explained that the service from local councils will be for the renewal of this document, and in case holders need to change any detail such as surname or address, or otherwise have lost their identity card, they must go to the Identity Card Section, in Gattard House, and make an appointment for renewal from the Identita agency website: https://eidbooking.identita.gov.mt/v2/

The identity card was made mandatory by law 49 years ago for those turning 18 and today this obligation has dropped to 14 years. The new identity cards have a number of strong security features to protect the person’s identity and make it more difficult to manipulate.

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