Nearly 10,000 applications from foreigners for the new e-residence card are still pending, the Home Affairs Ministry has told Times of Malta.

All existing ID cards for foreigners, marked with an ‘A’ for ‘alien’, were due to expire at the end of this month, making the need for the e-residence card all the more pressing.

But a ministry spokesperson said the validity of the old ID cards would be extended until December 31, 2015, due to the backlog of 9,801 pending e-residence applications.

HOME MINISTRY REACTION

In an reaction, the Ministry of Home Affairs gave an update of the figures, saying that of the 22,846 applications received, 16,716 (73 per cent) have been approved. A total of 12,936 e-residence cards had been collected by approved applicants.

A further 3,356 were approved but not collected while 424 have been approved but not yet printed.The number of applications still being processed is 6,130, or 27 per cent of all applications received to date.

More in the Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.

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