Yangon, Dec 27 (IANS): More than 32,000 people in Myanmar's Rakhine state were issued formal national verification identity cards after scrutiny, a news release from the State Counselor Office said on Tuesday.

A total of 32,016 people out of 469,183 in Rakhine, who surrendered their temporary certificates, were issued the formal certification on December 23, the Information Committee of the Counselor Office said.

Those who still hold the already expired temporary certificates issued under 1982 Myanmar Citizen Law, were notified to surrender them.

If they were entitled to become a Myanmar citizen then they would be acknowledged as residents of the country with the new certification.

There are a total of 759,672 temporary certificate holders in Rakhine, the statement added.

Myanmar's immigration authorities started on June 1, 2015 to issue the formal national verification identity cards to replace the temporary certificates.