Belgian national identity card
All Belgians aged 12 and above are issued with an identity card (Dutch: Identiteitskaart, French: Carte d’identité, German: Personalausweis). Belgians aged 15 and above are required to always carry it with them unless they are within 200 m from their homes. (Foreigners must at all times be able to provide identification, either a passport, or an identity document issued by another EU member state.) Holders who are Belgian citizens are also entitled to use the card for international travel within the European Union and a number of other European states, such as Macedonia,[1] Croatia[citation needed], Serbia and Albania[citation needed] in lieu of a Belgian passport.
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[edit] Use within Belgium
Although required to carry the card, Belgians are not required to show their identity cards unless dealing with:
- certain government agencies
- police
- authorised bus and train personnel
[edit] Physical appearance
All fields on the card are bilingual (English in combination with the holder's choice of French, Dutch or German) and the terms Belgium and "Identity Card" in all four languages. They are in credit card format (ID1) and contain a 3-line machine-readable strip on the back starting with IDBEL. The card holds the following information:[2]
- Photograph of the bearer's face
- Names of the holder (Surname and first two given names, initials of further given names)
- Date and place of birth
- Sex
- Nationality: Belg (Belgian)
- ID card number, 12 digits in the form xxx-xxxxxxx-yy. The check-number yy is the remainder of the division of xxxxxxxxxx by 97.
- Validity period (normally 5 years)
- Signature
- Identification number of the National Register (each individual is issued unique number for administration purposes) This number consists of 11 digits of the form yy.mm.dd-xxx.xx where yy.mm.dd is the birthdate of the person.
- Place of issue
If the holder wishes, the following info will also be mentioned on the card:
- Marital status
Before 2005, the ID did not contain a chip, and the address of the holder was printed on the card. Currently, this is written only on the chip.
The ID card may be used as a form of identification when travelling within the EU. For most countries outside the EU, Belgian citizens require a passport.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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