Residents can serve themselves when applying for new ID cards
City residents will soon be able to apply for new ID cards at self-service machines in police stations throughout the Pudong New Area.
All residents with Shanghai hukou, apart from first-time applicants, can use the machine. The service will later be available to those without Shanghai hukou as well.
The first machine is in use at Huamu police station in the Pudong New Area. By the end of next year, all 56 police stations in Pudong will have one, police said.
In Pudong, there are about 300,000 applications for new ID cards every year, a third of the Shanghai total, and at weekends applicants can wait in line for up to an hour for service over the counter.
Zhang Kai, an official with the Pudong Public Security Bureau's population administration office, said it takes an average of three to five minutes to complete an application on the machine, compared to five to seven minutes over the counter.
"The workload of our officers at the counter will be relieved so that complaints about their attitude will likely be reduced too," he said.
An applicant for a new ID card uses the machine at Huamu police station.
The machine takes a facial picture at the applicant and also his fingerprints, and requires a signature. The applicant also pays at the machine. Only cash is accepted at the moment, but police said a UnionPay option is expected to be added within the first half of next year.
However, if the applicant's picture on his previous ID card was taken at least three yeas ago, he will have to take a new picture by the police before he applies.
Police said those who apply for a new ID card after losing the original one still need to go to the counter to report loss before apply.
