Rwanda’s Information Society Authority (RISA) has launched a procurement for a ‘Single Digital ID Card Printing and Personalisation System and related consumables’ under the Rwanda Digital Acceleration Project (RDAP). Bids are due 30 April 2026, using a two-envelope procedure (technical and financial submissions) under an international competitive process.

S. Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has issued its first electronic ID card carrying a Khoi-San traditional name that uses the click character ‘!’. The card was handed to Stellenbosch student !Khūboab Oedasoua Lawrence, after his family spent 18 years trying to obtain documents that reflected the correct spelling of his name.

The Government of The Gambia has signed a build -operate–transfer (BOT) contract with Margins ID Systems Applications Ltd (MIDSA), a subsidiary of Ghana’s Margins ID Group, to modernise the country’s identity infrastructure and produce new national identity cards.

As part of a research initiative led by Reconnaissance International, a recent industry survey set out to define the elusive ‘WOW factor’ in holographic security features.

Entrust’s new 2026 Identity Fraud Report – The Changing Face of Fraud highlights how national ID cards have become the soft underbelly of global identity systems. Compared with ePassports and many driving licences, ID cards often carry fewer physical and digital security features and can be governed by less stringent issuance processes. As a result, they represent a disproportionate share of fraudulent ID documents detected in remote onboarding and KYC checks, making them a key target for organised crime.

Germany has begun preparing for a phased transition to a quantum-secure national identity card, aiming to safeguard the cryptographic integrity of its identity infrastructure against future quantum threats. The initiative is a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, Bundesdruckerei, G+D, Infineon Technologies AG, and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

The momentum behind national electronic identity (eID) programmes continues with countries across Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia, and Europe moving ahead at different stages of implementation.

The Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) has announced the introduction of a new identity document for asylum seekers in the second half of 2025. Revealed at Identity Week in Amsterdam, the new ID card aligns with updated ICAO standards for vertically oriented identity cards. This layout allows for a significantly larger portrait image, improving manual identity verification by frontline officials.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a public reminder that retail membership cards — including those issued by Costco, a US-based warehouse club and wholesale retailer — do not constitute valid identity documents for use at airport security checkpoints.

In an article recently published in Securing Industry, Dr Mark Deakes, chair of the new International Optical Technologies Association (IOTA), sets out how optical technologies are spearheading efforts to protect identity documents.