National Identification Number
Avent Oster
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number or JMBG/EMBG is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other governmentally-related functions.
The ways in which such a system is implemented vary among countries, but in most cases citizens are issued an identification number upon reaching legal age, or when they are born. Non-citizens may be issued such numbers when they enter the country, or when granted a temporary or permanent residence permit.
Many countries issued such numbers for a singular purpose, but over time, they become a de facto national identification number. For example, the United States developed its Social Security number (SSN) system as a means of organizing disbursing of Social Security benefits. However, due to function creep, the number has become used for other purposes to the point where it is almost essential to have one to, among other things, open a bank account, obtain a credit card, or drive a car. Although some countries are required to collect Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) information for overseas payment procedures, some countries, like the US, are not required to collect other nations' TIN if other requirements are met, such as date of birth.[1][2] Authorities use databases and they need a unique identifier so that data actually refer to the searched person. In countries where there is no established nationwide number, authorities need to create their own number for each person, though there is a risk of mismatching people.[citation needed]
In South Africa every citizen must apply for an Identity Card from the age of 16 years. The ID number is already allocated at the time the birth certificate is generated and required for child passport applications. This passport-size document contains only 8 pages - the first page containing the national identification number (also in barcoded format), name of bearer, district or country of birth, as well as a photograph of the bearer. The other pages are used for recording of voting participation, a page for driver's license information (although it is no longer used since the introduction of plastic card type licenses), as well as pages for fire arms licenses (also plastic card type now). The card is required to apply for a passport, car learner's license (over 17), motorcycle learner's license (over 16), driving license (over 18), motorcycle license (over 16 or 18 depending on cc) and to vote (over 18). The Identity Card is not used for international travel purposes (a separate passport is issued) but usually is acceptable photographic identification for internal flights, and mainly serves as proof of identification. Some authorities may accept the driver's license as proof of identity, but the Identity Card is the only universally accepted form of identification. The government has started issuing ID cards which contains a biometric chip which, in turn, holds biographical information which is unique to the holder of that specific card. The South African government has since phased out the Green Barcoded Identity Card and replaced it with the plastic Smart Identity Card. The Identity number is also used when the holder applies for a grant from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
The ID indicates that a male citizen was born on 1 January 1980; he was the 10th male to be registered (assuming that the first male to be registered on that day would be assigned the sequence number 5000).
In contrast to other countries the South African ID number is not unique, at least because of the use of a two-digit year. Other issues with duplications exist:[5] however the Department of Home Affairs HANIS Project[6] has planned to rectify that with ID smart cards. The timeline for that is undetermined as the last budget request for 08/09 and 09/10 included requests for budget for it[7] despite the project being active since 1997.
Upon reaching the age of 16 the applicant then has to go to the registrar generals offices in their district to obtain a national ID. Foreigners in Zimbabwe have their ID number with the district of origin as 00 meaning they are foreigners so their ID number would look like 12 345678 A00. Zimbabweans who are not of black race also get a district of origin shown as 00, even those who are of mixed race. It was announced in September 2021 by the Department of Home Affairs and Cultural Affairs that the '00' code would be abolished as it differentiates "citizens on the basis of race, colour and creed"[8]
In Argentina the only nationally issued identification is the DNI, Documento Nacional de Identidad (National Identity Document). It is a number not related to anything in particular about the person (except for immigrants who get assigned numbers starting at 92,000,000). It is assigned at birth by the Registro Nacional de las Personas (National Registry for People), but parents need to sign up their children, and because of this there are some people, especially the poor, who do not have a DNI.
For taxpaying purposes, the CUIT and CUIL (Código Único de Identificación Tributaria, Unique Code for Taxpaying Identification and Código de Identificación Laboral, Unique Code for Laboral Identification) are used. An example of the ID is 20-10563145-8. It is based on the DNI and appends 2 numbers at the beginning and one at the end. For example, 20 and 23 for men, 27 for women, and one control digit at the end. Employees have a CUIL (assigned at the moment the DNI is created), and employers have a CUIT. The first two digits to identify the CUIT for companies are for instance: 30 or 33. If a person decides to open a company of its own, his CUIL usually becomes his CUIT. The CUIT was needed because a different identification is required for companies, who cannot be identified by a DNI number.
In Brazil there are two systems. The first, the Registro Geral (RG) is a number associated to the official ID card. Although the ID cards are supposedly national, the RG numbers are assigned by the states and a few other organizations, such as the armed forces. So, not only is it possible for a person to have the same RG number as a person from other state (which is usually dealt with by specifying the state which issued the ID card), but it is also possible to (legally) have more than one RG, from different states.
The other system, the Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas (CPF) is federal and supposedly unique (barring fraud), but it was created originally for purposes of taxation (a related system is used for companies, which is called Cadastro Nacional de Pessoas Jurídicas - CNPJ). One, the other or both numbers are required for many common tasks in Brazil, such as opening a bank account or getting a driver's license. The RG system is more widespread, but its shortcomings have led to debate about merging both systems into a new one, which would be based around the CPF.
The use of the social insurance number (SIN) as a de facto ID number ended in 2004 with passage of The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.[10] There are only certain instances where an organization may ask for a SIN (namely for tax or retirement benefit related issues). The SIN must be guarded as confidential personal information, and therefore cannot be used as a general ID number.[11] Nevertheless, the SIN is still used as a unique identifier for the Canada Revenue Agency (similar to USA's IRS & England's HMRC) to track individuals who are filing their income tax returns.
In Chile the National Identification Number is called RUN (Rol Único Nacional) but is usually called RUT (Rol Único Tributario) since the number is the same as the one used for tax purposes. The main difference between them is that a RUN is only assigned to natural persons, while juristic persons can only get a RUT number.
In the case of natural persons, the RUN/RUT number is used as a national identification number, as a taxpayer number, as a social insurance number, as a driver's license number, for employment, etc. It is also commonly used as a customer number in banks, retailers, insurance companies, airlines, etc. Until the end of August 2013, the RUN was also used as the passport number. After this date, Chilean passports have had unique numbers.
Since well before 1990, every baby born is given a RUN number; it was previously assigned when applying to get an ID card. Non-Chilean residents also get a RUN and an identification card. Every company or organization also must have a RUT for taxation purposes.
In Colombia, each person is issued a basic ID card during childhood (Tarjeta de Identidad). The ID number includes the date of birth and a short serial number. Upon reaching the age of 18, every citizen is reissued a citizenship card (Cédula de Ciudadanía), and the ID number on it is used and required in all instances, public and private.
Every Colombian national traveling abroad is issued a passport document (which includes a passport number related to the national identification number); in this manner foreign governments can track Colombian nationals with their consulates.
There is as well a number assigned to companies: NIT (Número de Identificación Tributaria). Tributary Identification Number (for its Spanish acronym). Among other things, it is used for tax reports.
In Mexico, the ID number is called the CURP (Clave Única de Registro de Población) although the most important and accepted ID card would be the election card ("credencial de elector" or else "credencial del INE," as per the initials of "Instituto Nacional Electoral/National Institute of Elections, the institution responsible for electoral procedures). There are, however, other important ID numbers in Mexico: for instance, the social security number, which is the number assigned by Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Institute of Social Security, or IMSS) to every citizen who starts working, or the RFC (Registro Federal del Contribuyente) which is assigned by the Treasury and has the same format as the CURP but a shorter length.
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