National Identity Card (Sri Lanka NIC)
National Identity Card (NIC) is the identity document in Sri Lanka. Simply, it is “Identity Card, the Trusted Personal Identity”. It issues by the Department for Registration of Persons. The NIC is a compulsory document for all Sri Lankan citizens who are 15 years old. The Registration of Persons Act No.32 of 1968 as amended by Act Nos 28 and 37 of 1971 and Act No.11 of 1981 legislates the issuance and usage of NICs. Today, Sri Lanka uses new NIC that has 12 numbers. The new NIC method was introduced from 1 January 2016.
Decoding NIC number: How to find DOB in NIC?
First four numbers represent year of birth. Eg: 198103207353; here first 4 numbers are holder’s birth year (1981). The next three numbers (Eg: 032) represent number of days of holder’s birthday. Therefore, particular person’s birthday is 1st of March 1981. If the NIC holder is female, next three number would add 500. Therefore, it could be 198153207353. The last numbers are the serial number. You can use NIC converter to reveal your DOB.
Sri Lanka NIC in nutshell
| Issued by | Department for Registration of Persons |
| First issue | 14 September 1972 |
| First issued smart card | 27 October 2017 |
| Valid in | Sri Lanka |
| Eligibility | Sri Lankan citizenship |
| Eligible age | 16-years old |
| Expiration | N/A |
| Card type | Smart Card |
| Languages | Sinhala, Tamil & English |
Old NIC number
The old NIC number had a 9-digit number and a letter. It was effective before 1 January 2016. Like the new NIC, first two numbers are the year of birth. Eg: 810327353V; here first 81 numbers are holder’s birth year, and it will be 1981. The next three numbers are number of days of holder’s birthday. If the NIC holder is female, next three number would add 500. Therefore, it could be 815327353V. The rest of numbers are the serial number. The last special alphabetic letter is for voting eligibility. It would be “V” or “X”. The letter “V” means the holder is eligible to vote, and the letter “X” means the person is not eligible to vote. This old to new convertor vise versa can help you to check the differences.
Also, a big purple number on the right represents the holder’s province as per permanent address. The purple number ranges from 1–9. The number indicates province as per 1 = Western, 2 = Central, 3 = Southern, 4 = Northern, 5 = Eastern, 6 = North Western, 7 = North Central, 8 = Uva and 9 = Sabaragahmuwa.
Electronic National Identity Card Project (eNIC / e-NIC)
The Electronic National Identity Card Project (e-NIC) established in 2012. It planned for effective usage of technology in the National Identity card in the future. The eNIC is in the process of using a smart card based RFID NIC card.
