Eritrean national identity cards were first issued in 1992, in advance of the 1993 referendum and declaration of independence. These identity cards were hand-written; government officials claimed that the identity cards were easily forged and, as a result, fake Eritrean identity cards were being used by asylum seekers in order to gain entry into Europe. In response, the national identity cards were updated in 2014, with old identity cards required to be surrendered in favour of the new cards.