{"id":57121,"date":"2026-02-08T17:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/digital-id-enrollment-kicks-off-in-kigali-what-residents-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T09:44:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T09:44:42","slug":"digital-id-enrollment-kicks-off-in-kigali-what-residents-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/digital-id-enrollment-kicks-off-in-kigali-what-residents-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital ID enrollment kicks off in Kigali: What residents need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NIDA Director General Josephine Mukesha said the program, which was previously conducted in the districts of Huye, Gisagara, Nyanza, Muhanga, Ruhango, and Kamonyi, will now continue in Kigali.<\/p>\n<p>The enrollment process in the city is expected to take seven weeks. Each week, NIDA teams will operate in two to three sectors per district before moving to the next, depending on Kigali\u2019s layout. Multiple registration sites may be set up in each sector to accommodate residents efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>During the first week, enrollment is taking place in 17 sites across Nyakabanda, Rwezamenyo, and Gitega sectors in Nyarugenge District; 14 sites in Kimihurura and Kacyiru sectors in Gasabo District; and 12 sites in Niboyi, Kagarama, and Kicukiro sectors in Kicukiro District.<\/p>\n<p>Mukesha emphasised that services will also be available on weekends to ensure citizens who work during weekdays can participate. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe encourage parents to come and register themselves and their children. Weekend services allow parents with school-going children to accompany them without missing work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Operating hours will generally begin at 7 a.m., with some sites extending into the evening, depending on coordination with district authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Residents verifying their identities will need their parents\u2019 National ID numbers or, for married individuals, their spouse\u2019s ID number. Mukesha noted that challenges have included parents failing to register their children in the civil registry and outdated information for spouses. She urged residents to ensure records are up to date at the village level before attending enrollment.<\/p>\n<p>NIDA has also made it possible for individuals with smartphones to verify their information online via the Irembo platform, reducing time spent at enrollment sites. \u201cWhen citizens arrive at a site, the process should take no more than 10 minutes,\u201d Mukesha said.<\/p>\n<p>The Digital ID will be issued to Rwandans, foreign residents, refugees, asylum seekers, children born out of wedlock, migrants, and stateless persons residing in Rwanda.<\/p>\n<p>IDs will be available in physical card form, as a QR code that can be stored on a phone or computer, and as a unique \u201ctoken\u201d number to access personal information. Physical IDs will no longer be required for accessing services.<\/p>\n<p>Biometric identifiers include fingerprints, all ten fingers, and facial recognition. Children under five will receive an ID with a photo only, while full biometric data collection will begin from age five.<\/p>\n<p>The program, which began in 2023, is part of a larger project in partnership with the World Bank, with an investment of approximately 200 billion Rwandan francs. The Digital ID is expected to be fully rolled out by July 2026.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101851 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg\" alt=\"NIDA Director General Josephine Mukesha (right) gets photographed during digital ID enrolment at Rugando cell office in Kimihurura, Kigali on February 7, 2025.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101849 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/haj7bfpxmaafgov-8e903.jpg\" alt=\"Biometric identifiers include fingerprints, all ten fingers, and facial recognition. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101850 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/haj7bfzxgaakjyk-0f342.jpg\" alt=\"Vice Mayor of the City of Kigali in charge of Socio-Economic Affairs, Martine Urujeni, attended the identity verification exercise.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101846 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/hajurakwuaa2v8v-d15d2.jpg\" alt=\"The program, which began in 2023, is part of a larger project in partnership with the World Bank, with an investment of approximately 200 billion Rwandan francs. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101847 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/hajta3dweaae-vk-7d11b.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101852 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/hajuv2tweaaqn4a-14175.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101853 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/hajuuo2xwaajpyx-b6222.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Identification Agency (NIDA) has launched a city-wide program in Kigali to verify citizens\u2019 identities and issue Digital National IDs. The initiative began on Saturday, February 7, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000101854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-57121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-services","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000101854,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/haj7bfjxgaasw0z-d42df.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000101854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57121"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=57121"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=57121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}