Authorities recompiling data on Syrians outside camps

AMMAN — The Interior Ministry and the Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate, in cooperation with UNHCR, on Sunday starts re-registering the data of all Syrians residing outside refugee camps in Jordan.

The decision excludes Syrians holding diplomatic and UN passports and women of Syrian origin who are married to Jordanians and hold Jordanian nationality. 

The Interior Ministry and UNHCR have posted announcements in local media calling on Syrians to register with authorities.

Through the new process, each member of families residing outside refugee camps will be issued a new identification card by the Interior Ministry. 

The total number of Syrians residing in the Kingdom has reached around 1.4 million, of whom 637,000 have been registered as refugees, according to Interior Ministry figures.

Camp dwellers — mainly in Zaatari and Azraq — are set at 100,000, constituting 15 per cent of registered Syrian refugees and 7 per cent of the total number of Syrians in Jordan.

To maintain their legal status in the Kingdom, Syrians must register their data, the ministry said, adding that the multiphase registration process is free.  

The first phase starts in Amman on
February 15, while registration dates in the other governorates will be announced later through media outlets, with a list of police stations Syrians can report to in order to complete the procedures.