Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Number of Identity Cards Reported Lost Annually by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

756. Ms Joan Pereira : To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the last three years, how many identity cards have been reported lost annually; (b) what is the trend over the last decade; (c) how many requests have there been for waiver of the replacement fee; and (d) whether the Ministry will implement a procedure where applicants who appeal for a waiver of the replacement fee can have their qualifying status verified through a central co-ordination point.

Answer:

1. Losing an Identity Card (IC) is a serious matter as the lost IC may be misused to commit identity fraud and for illicit transactions.

2. In the last three years, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) received around 31,500 reports of lost ICs annually. Around 13% were granted fee waivers for the replacement ICs.

3. The trend of lost ICs has been relatively stable over the past decade.

4. There is no fixed qualifying criteria for the waiver of the IC replacement fee. ICA will consider the circumstances of each case. It may grant a waiver in situations where it assesses that the loss of the IC was not due to negligence, but circumstances beyond the cardholder's control, for example, if he or she had been a victim of crime. We are not able to develop a mechanism or system to automate such assessments, and which the public can use to check if they would qualify for waiver of the IC replacement fee.