CHANGE OF ADDRESS ON NRIC (Updating)

Column No : 1350

CHANGE OF ADDRESS ON NRIC:

(Updating): The following Question stood in the name of Dr Warren Lee -

1. To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs if the Government can improve the current method of updating a change of address on the NRIC where the changes are typed onto an adhesive strip and stuck onto the existing NRIC as the sticker can be peeled off and the original address represented as the present address.

Mr Arthur Fong (West Coast): Question No. 1, Sir.

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for t he Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker Sir, when an NRIC holder reports a change of his address, the registration officer at the reporting centre would obliterate the old address on the NRIC by making cut grooves into the address section on the back of the NRIC with a metal inscriber. He then marks over it with permanent ink, before pasting the new address sticker over the old address. Any attempt to tamper with the change in address will show up. We started this procedure in April 1999 to address the problem of NRIC holders tearing off the sticker, and passing off the original address as the present address.

Furthermore, we have put in place strict laws against those who tamper with their NRIC. Under the National Registration Act, any person who forges, erases, alters or falsifies any entry in or tampers with an identity card, can be fined up to $10,000, imprisoned for up to 10 years, or both. Using another person's address as his own is an act of cheating, which is an offence punishable under the Penal Code.

Over the last three years, an average of 193,000 NRIC holders reported a change of address each year. We have made it convenient for those who need to report their new address by allowing them to do so at any Neighbourhood Police Centre or Police Post. The current procedure balances cost and convenience with security.