Prime Minister urges entities to accept new Digital ID-cards

Jul 17, 2026 News

(Kaieteur News) – The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) on Thursday issued a statement encouraging local authorities, financial institutions, employers and other entities to accept the new Digital Identity (ID) cards as an official form of identification for persons conducting any form of business or transaction in Guyana.

The Digital Identity Card Act 19 of 2023 came into full force and effect on 31^st March , 2026.

Section 6 (1) of the Act stipulates: “A Digital Identity Card shall be an official document, sufficient and necessary to lawfully identify the person in doing any business with a public body or private sector entity, whether in person or online, within Guyana or in any country that has a reciprocal agreement with Guyana for the use of such a card.”

Currently, two categories of ID cards are issued: the Citizen Identity Card, issued to citizens of Guyana, and the Resident Identity Card, issued to eligible non-citizens permitted to work in Guyana.

The OPM explained, “Each card displays several numbers, and entities are advised to use the correct one for identity verification and record-keeping purposes.”

For citizens, authorities are advised to always record the Guyana Unique Identification Number (GUIN) while for eligible non-citizens a Resident Identification Number (RIDN) will be issued as the permanent identity reference for each cardholder.

“These numbers are assigned to the cardholder upon acquisition of the card and remain unchanged for life, even when the physical card is renewed, replaced, or corrected. They are located in the biodata section on the front of the card, in the last field to the right of the photograph,” the government release indicated.

Additionally, the card also displays a Document Number and a Card Access Number (CAN). Neither of these is permanent, and neither should be relied upon as a standalone identifier.

Authorities and entities have been urged to record the GUIN (Citizen Identity Card) or RIDN (Resident Identity Card) as the permanent

identity reference in all systems, files, and databases.

It was explained that the Document Number may be recorded for travel or immigration purposes, but must not be used as a standalone identifier, since it changes each time a new card is issued.

Meanwhile, it was noted that the CAN must never be used for identification purposes. “It is a technical control value related solely to the card’s embedded electronic chip,” according to the GoG.

Meanwhile, the statement advised that where a discrepancy arises between the Document Number on file and the Document Number on a renewed or replaced card, the GUIN/RIDN should be used to confirm the cardholder’s identity.

This is important since the Document Number changes with every renewal, replacement, or correction. As such, entities that rely on it alone as a permanent identifier risk losing continuity of records or misidentifying cardholders over time. Notably, the GUIN and RIDN were designed specifically to prevent this, providing a single, lifelong reference number for every citizen and resident cardholder.

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Digital ID-cards, E-ID, Resident Identification Number

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