JEDDAH — Saudi women can now get an independent family ID for them and their Saudi children which can be uses to finalize their cases at different government departments. Earlier, divorced women were left only with one option: To carry a copy of the family ID and wait until their ex-husbands come to the government department to show the original family ID. The new system, noted lawyer Majid Al-Fahad, will result in a shift in Saudi courts especially that many cases will be dealt with swiftly. Women, he added, can now use this new ID as their official identification document instead of carrying a copy. Further, he added that many divorced women have various issues that accrue when they want to finalize their children papers because their ex-husbands would keep the original family cards and would in some cases ask the women to pay them money in order to felicitate the paperwork. In other cases however men might just deprive their ex-wives and their children getting their procedures finalized for no justified reasons. "The copy of the original family ID which women used to carry is not enough because in many cases government officials insist on the original to double check the accuracy of copies provided." Most importantly, elaborated Al-Fahad, this ID is crucial to protect the rights of children in case their father denies that they are his children. The new mother-children ID is also useful in cases where a man marries more than one woman. Each woman will be carrying her own ID that includes the names of her children as well. This, noted the lawyer, will save time and ease procedures since each wife can finalize her procedures and that of her children without the need of the presence of her husband especially if he is living in another town or city.
