The Department of Civil Status and Passports (DCSP) in Irbid was unusually crowded on Thursday, as dozens of Jordanian citizens rushed to upgrade their National ID cards before the “free upgrade extension deadline” came to an end.

Roya Arabic reported that the DCSP’s offices were “extremely crammed” from morning until closing time on Thursday.

The government had previously announced that citizens can get their new “smart IDs” for free before June 15. After the set deadline, a fee of 2JD will apply.

The mandatory upgrade was first announced in June 2016, soon after which waves of citizens moved to claim their new chip-enhanced cards.