The new contactless citizen card will start being issued on June 10, 2024. The new European card will be safer than the previous one, and in the future, it might be used as an electronic ticket for concerts and shows.
The software, developed by three Portuguese public entities, will enable the European citizen card to have more functionalities, including from the private sphere. In fact, at the moment, the possibility of using it for public transportation is also being worked on. Notwithstanding, there is no release date for these more advanced features.
Even though it was announced in 2023, the new card will only start being issued in June. It will be a soft release, so there won’t be a massive shift all of a sudden. New documents will have the new technology, and old documents will be replaced as they expire.
The day, June 10th, is the day of Camões, Portugal, and the Portuguese Communities. Symbolically, it was chosen for the release of this new identification mechanism.
This modernization came as a result of European regulation. The regulation mandates the modernization of the citizen card services, and will also lead to the upgrade of the public biometric kiosks. When it comes to funding, it will also rely on the funds of the recuperation and resilience plan (PRR).
Moreover, the new technology will also enable the citizen card system and the passport system to exist. Both will be able to be seen simultaneously.
It is relevant to note that since 2021, it has been possible to renew the citizen card online instead of needing to go physically to the public entities and wait. Also, the citizen card became free for babies last summer.
Apart from the technology, the design will also change considerably. The chip will be on the back, the text and the picture will be bigger, and it will have Portuguese patterns as background decoration.
