Belgian national identification card

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

aged 12 and above are issued with an identity card . Belgians aged 15 and above are required to always carry it with them unless they are within 200 m from their homes. (Foreigners must at all times be able to provide identification, either a passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

, or an identity document issued by another EU member state.) Holders who are Belgian citizens are also entitled to use the card for international travel within the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

and a number of other Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an states, such as FYROM, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

and Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

in lieu of a Belgian passport

Belgian passport

Belgian passports are issued to citizens of Belgium to facilitate international travel. The Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs is responsible for issuing and renewing Belgian passports.-Types of Passports:...

Use within Belgium

Although required to carry the card, Belgians are not required to show their identity cards unless dealing with:

certain government agencies
police
authorised bus and train personnel

Physical appearance

All fields on the card are bilingual (English in combination with the holder's choice of French, Dutch or German) and the terms Belgium and "Identity Card" in all four languages. They are in credit card format (ID1) and contain a 3-line machine-readable strip on the back starting with IDBEL.
The card holds the following information:

Photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

of the bearer's face
Names of the holder (Surname and first two given names, initials of further given names)
Date and place of birth
Sex
Nationality: Belg (Belgian)
ID card number, 12 digits in the form xxx-xxxxxxx-yy. The check-number yy is the remainder
Remainder
In arithmetic, the remainder is the amount "left over" after the division of two integers which cannot be expressed with an integer quotient....

of the division of xxxxxxxxxx by 97.
Validity period (normally 5 years)
Signature
Identification number of the National Register (each individual is issued unique number for administration purposes) This number consists of 11 digits of the form yy.mm.dd-xxx.xx where yy.mm.dd is the birthdate of the person.
Place of issue

If the holder wishes, the following info will also be mentioned on the card:

Marital status

Before 2005, the ID did not contain a chip

Integrated circuit

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...

, and the address of the holder was printed on the card. Currently, this is written only on the chip.

The ID card may be used as a form of identification when travelling within the EU. For most countries outside the EU, Belgian citizens require a passport.

Use within Belgium

Physical appearance

See also