How to Get a National ID in Ethiopia (Fayda)

To get a Fayda national ID in Ethiopia, visit a designated registration center with an accepted photo ID, have your fingerprints, iris, and photo captured, confirm your demographic details on the consent form, and wait for your 12-digit number to arrive by SMS. The turnaround runs from a few minutes to a few days for most people. Registration is open to every resident of Ethiopia, and as of late 2025 about 28 million people had enrolled, with the government aiming for 60 million by the end of the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

Who Can Register

The Digital Identification Proclamation No. 1284/2023 extends the registration requirement to all residents, including Ethiopian citizens and legally present foreign nationals such as refugees and asylum seekers. For refugees and asylum seekers, UNHCR coordinates with Ethiopian authorities to share only the biometric and basic demographic data needed to generate a Fayda number.¹

Children as young as five are eligible. For younger children and anyone who cannot provide biometrics independently, a parent or legal guardian handles the process. Each person receives exactly one Fayda number, and it stays with them permanently.²

What to Bring

You need at least one accepted identity document, and it must include a photograph of you. The most common options are:

A Kebele ID card, which most Ethiopian residents already carry.
A valid passport, which matters most for returning diaspora members and foreign residents.
A certified birth certificate from the relevant civil registry authority.

The official program lists additional acceptable documents beyond these three, so check the proof-of-identity page before assuming you cannot register.³

Come prepared with your demographic information as well: full name, date of birth, gender, nationality, and current address. Making sure these match what appears on your supporting documents will save you time at the counter.⁴

Where to Go

Registration centers are spread across every major region, including Addis Ababa, Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, Afar, Somali, Harari, Dire Dawa, Sheger, Sidama, Benishangul-Gumuz, and SNNPR. Many are hosted inside partner institutions you likely already visit: the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Bank of Abyssinia, Dashen Bank, Ethio telecom offices, and post offices. There is a good chance one is closer than you think.⁵

What Happens at the Center

Staff collect three types of biometric data:

Fingerprints from all ten fingers, scanned digitally.
Iris scans from both eyes.
A standardized facial photograph.

Those three biometric layers are what stop anyone from registering twice or under someone else’s identity.¹ After capture, the enrollment officer shows your demographic details on screen and asks you to confirm them before signing a registration consent form. Keep any slip or reference number you receive. You will need it if corrections come up later.

Give a phone number you actually plan to keep. It becomes your permanent contact channel with the program, and it is where your Fayda number will be sent.⁶

When Your Number Arrives

Background processing after a successful enrollment takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, according to Ethio telecom. Cases that need extra manual verification can take longer, but the standard experience is not the weeks-long wait many people expect from a government ID program.⁶

Your 12-digit Fayda number comes by text message from “9779” or “National ID Ethiopia.” Watch for those sender names rather than expecting a call or a letter.⁶

Getting the App and the Physical Card

Once your number arrives, download the official Fayda ID app from Google Play to view, verify, download, and manage your digital ID on your phone. The National ID Program develops the app directly, and it works as a standalone digital wallet for the credential.⁷

The digital version is increasingly accepted at banks, telecom offices, and government service windows on its own. Physical cards are printed separately and dispatched to enrollment centers or local offices for pickup.

Fixing Errors After Registration

The correction path depends on the type of mistake.

If the enrollment officer entered your data incorrectly and your consent form is accurate, you can fix demographic details online at the official update portal at id.gov.et/update without going back to a center.⁵

If you need to change information to something different from what you originally provided, such as a legal name change, you must visit a registration center in person and bring the supporting legal documents. Update centers sit inside the same enrollment partners across the country, including Ethio telecom offices, CBE, Dashen, and post offices.⁵

If You Live Abroad

Ethiopians in the diaspora have a temporary reprieve. The government granted a two-year waiver exempting citizens living abroad from the mandatory Fayda requirement for banking transactions. The grace period runs until December 31, 2026. After that, the same rules that apply domestically extend to diaspora account holders. The waiver does not block you from registering. It only means you will not lose account access in the interim, and enrolling during a visit to Ethiopia before the deadline would save scrambling later.

Why It Is Worth Registering Now

The Proclamation treats Fayda as legally sufficient proof of identity, and it is quickly becoming the only ID that matters for accessing services. Banks require it for opening new accounts and for updating existing customer profiles under Know Your Customer rules, and the National Bank of Ethiopia set a nationwide deadline of March 30, 2026, for all active bank accounts to be linked. Telecom providers require it for new SIM cards.¹ It is also tied to obtaining or renewing a driver’s license, getting a Taxpayer Identification Number, and land title and construction permits.⁸ Health centers and educational services are listed as Fayda-enabled as well.

Banks can freeze account access, and new services may simply be unavailable without a number. If you have been putting registration off, the practical consequences are growing quickly.¹

1
UNHCR. Overview of Fayda Digital ID – UNHCR Ethiopia
2
National ID Program. Strategies
3
National ID. Proof of Acceptable Documents
4
National ID Program. Fayda for Ethiopia
5
National ID. Fayda Update Centers
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Ethio telecom. Fayda National ID
7
Google Play. Fayda ID
8
National ID. Benefits of Fayda