Since the end of 2024, the Dominican identity card has been a crucially important issue. As it expired at the beginning of this year, there has been significant uncertainty about how it will be renewed, the mechanisms for its future validity, its format, and the new technologies to be used.

With a model in use since 2014, personal identification urgently needs to be changed, as the data it contains is straightforward to manipulate and replicate.

This change arises not only as a mere update but also as a need for more robust mechanisms to verify citizens’ identities, thereby eliminating the possibility of procedures being carried out without the cardholders’ knowledge, which can lead to various legal problems. This is one of the reasons that prompted the renewal.

In January 2024, a model was proposed that plans to incorporate a chip, each citizen’s electronic signature, embossed names, and the possibility of allowing biometric comparison of a fingerprint recorded on the chip with a live capture in a few seconds, as well as changes in the design, the location of the national flag, and the colors used in the photograph. In addition, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) selected materials, such as polycarbonate, used in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, among others.

The process of renewing identity and electoral cards was scheduled to begin on August 17, 2024. However, through Resolution 49-2024, the JCE indicated that the renewal process would start on a new date, to be announced in due course. The interruption was due to the 2024 general elections.

The resolution modifies the start of the process for the new cards, while extending the validity of the IDs so that they can be used until the replacement process is completed on August 8, 2024, signed by the Secretary General of the JCE, Sonne Beltré Ramírez.

On December 20, 2024, the committee notified the registered companies of the process through official letter CCC-351/2024, as stated in the letter signed by Luis Mora Guzmán.

The JCE began the new process according to its schedule on February 25, 2025, by opening an international public tender for the hiring of the company responsible for printing the document.

This year, the JCE joined the Ministry of Public Health and the National Institute for Transplant Coordination (Incort) in a meeting that considered adding organ donor status to identity cards, in line with Law 329-98, which regulates the donation of human organs and tissues.

At the meeting between the JCE and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), a new project is planned to facilitate identity verification. It will be digital and include much more detailed data to reduce forgery significantly.

It also added plans to integrate the ID card with the driver’s license, the permit to carry firearms, and other institutional permits. This will extend the validity of the documents for a longer period, with the plan to access them digitally in collaboration with the durable physical version made of polycarbonate, laser engraving, and grayscale photography, saving on renewals every 5 or 10 years.

It is planned that, under the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), it will be valid abroad.

The president of the Fuerza del Pueblo party, Leonel Fernández, expressed concern about the logistics and execution of the initiative, citizen privacy, the compatibility of the physical and digital versions, and the dangers of data manipulation in elections. Regarding doubts about the budget, the president of the JCE, Román Andrés Jáquez Liranzo, promised not to exceed the established funds.

Fernandez requested that the electoral roll be audited to avoid any irregularities and, despite his doubts, considered it a good opportunity to regularize immigrants and protect Dominican sovereignty.

The electoral body, which will allocate a total budget of between RD$2 billion and RD$2.5 billion over the next 10 years, reiterated the security guarantees that the digital format will provide.

Various institutions and businesses will be able to “have a public key (to access them when the citizen allows it), but we (the JCE) will have the lock,” the electoral body said.

Citizens must learn to handle, care for, and manage their security and data self-care because the JCE has total control, affirming that without the physical, there is no digital.

From now on, people aged 18 to 35 will have an ID card valid for 12 years; those aged 36 to 60, for 16 years; and those aged 61 or over, for 20 years.

Once the new ID card process is complete, a socialization process will be carried out with all sectors, and the JCE will focus on ID cards for minors aged 12, 13, 14, and 15.

“Acércate a la JCE” (Come to the JCE) is the first step in the operation, which seeks to obtain updated contact information from citizens via the website.

It is projected to benefit more than 9.4 million citizens, with implementation expected to take about a year, starting in the last quarter of this year, depending on the month of birth. He indicated that the massive process will begin in 2026, and for greater efficiency, strategic mobile operations will be deployed in busy locations throughout the country.

NATIONAL SYMBOLS

The new ID card will feature historical and national elements.

Jáquez Liranzo revealed this during a ceremony in which he presented the designs of the National Coat of Arms and the figure of Juan Pablo Duarte that will appear on this new document to the Duartiano Institute and the Permanent Commission of National Holidays (CPEP).

Begins in 2026

Jáquez Liranzo also announced that the process of changing ID cards is scheduled to begin on a large scale in 2026, based on date of birth.

“The mass replacement will take place in 2026, throughout the year, during the month of birthdays. This means that these groups, those aged 18-35 who change in 2026, will be valid until 2038,” he said.