Inception of the Department
The legal background for the registration of persons in Sri Lanka and the issuance of National Identity card began with the passing of the Registration of Persons Act No. 32 of 1968. Subsequent to the introduction of regulations to implement this Act on April 5, 1971, the Department for Registration of Persons was established on 01.10.1971 at No.38, Cappetipola Road, Colombo 05.
Registration of persons in Sri Lanka became a necessity due to the fact that a large number of
Indians migrated to Sri Lanka as plantation workers during the British colonial era, and after the
independence of India in 1974 and Sri Lanka in 1948, according to the immigration laws of the two
countries, Indians were able to legally travel between the two countries, with Indians being mixed
with Sri Lankans in large numbers.
Thus, under the leadership of the then Prime Minister of India, Sri Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Prime
Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr. D.S. Senanayake, discussions were held regarding the citizenship of Indian
nationals in this country, and special laws were introduced for those who were inclined to obtain Sri
Lankan citizenship. Since those laws were not enforced as expected, the Nehru Kotalawala Agreement
was signed in October 1954, and the Sirima-Shasthri Pact was signed in October 1964 with the intention
of retaining a part of the Indian population and sending the other part to India. These agreements, too,
were not properly implemented. Hence, after studying the methodology of issuing identity cards in
Malaysia, laws were drafted to register people and issue National Identity cards as needed in this
country.
Milestones of the Department
| Specialty | Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issuance of an Identity card for the first time | Year 1972 | |||||
| Typing the National Identity Card number | Year 1996 | |||||
| Providing colour photographs instead of black and white photographs | Year 2005 | |||||
| Computer-aided numbering | Year 2007 | |||||
| Printing of Identity cards for Sinhala-medium school students using computer technology | Year 2009 | |||||
| Establishment of 335 regional offices of the Department | Year 2013 | |||||
| Establishment the North Western Provincial Office | Year 2013 | |||||
| Establishment the North Provincial Office | Year 2013 | |||||
| Printing of information in both Sinhala and Tamil | Year 2014 | |||||
| Establishment of the Department for Registration of Persons in Suhurupaya building, at Subhuthipura Road, Battaramulla, which was earlier established at Cappetipola Road, Colombo 05, since inception. | 26th September 2016 | |||||
| Instead of the 9-digit number of the National ID card, removing the letter V at the end of the ID card and amending to a 12-digit number. | Year 2016 | |||||
| Issuance of smart identity card | Year 2017 | |||||
| Establishment the North West Provincial Office | Year 2017 | |||||
| Introduction of ICAO photographs | Year 2018 | |||||
| Initiation of application scanning using VPN technology at the Divisional Secretariat level | Year 2018 | |||||
| Establishment of the Southern Provincial Office and implementation of one-day service | Year 2019 | |||||
| Introduction of an online system for verification of the accuracy of information in the National Identity cards. | Year 2020 | |||||
| Taking steps to recycle the applications forwarded for obtaining amended and duplicates and using social networks such as WhatsApp and Viber to reduce the amount of paper used in work and to check the accuracy of the documents strictly through the computer screens and using share folders and email facilities to do the necessary amendments. | ||||||
| Provision of Sri Lankan Identity Number for Birth Certificates (SLIN Number) of newly born children operated jointly with the Registrar General’s Department | Year 2022 | |||||
| NIC Lookup | Year 2022/2021 | |||||