Typing Centres in Dubai Adopt New Visa System
One such centre launches hotline for customers to enquire about the system, arrange for passport pickup and delivery
Published: 14:58 April 20, 2016
Razmig Bedirian, Staff Reporter
ID Card Centre’s 800 IDCARD (800 432273) hotline is available in Arabic, English, Hindi, and Malayalam.
Dubai: The UAE Vision System, a new visa system which allows residents to apply and renew visas directly through typing centres without the need of visiting the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA), has been officially adopted by a number of typing centres in Dubai.
One such centre even launched a toll-free number on Wednesday to help with the new system. ID Card Centre, located in Deira, launched its 800 IDCARD (800 432273) hotline on Wednesday. The hotline is available in Arabic, English, Hindi, and Malayalam, to help customers enquiring about the new ‘UAE Vision’ system. It allows customers to schedule the pickup and delivery of their visa-related documents through Zajel courier at a convenient location.
With the unveiling of the UAE Vision system earlier this month, residents are no longer required to visit the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs headquarters or any of its external branches in order to renew or apply for visas. Instead, all transactions will be carried out through the approved typing centres.
The transactions include applying for visa, renewing residency, applying for new residency, and visa cancellation, in addition to any other related services. According to a GDRFA official, there have been no changes to the required documents or charges related to the visa transactions.
“When customers visit typing centres, they need to look out for the Amer logo,” a GDRFA official said. “The logo will be clearly visible on the counters and on the staff uniform. The logo is a badge of approval from the GDRFA, indicating that the typing centre is qualified to carry out visa-related transactions through the UAE Vision system.”
Speaking on the delivery of new services to customers, Esmail Ebrahim, managing director of ID Card Centre, said, “Keeping with the government’s efforts of digitisation and technological development, we decided to offer our customers services that will make the visa application processes more convenient and less frustrating.”
The other related services the centre offers range from documentation for medical tests, attestation, legal translation, and wages protection system (WPS).
Jailab Abdullah, marketing manager of the centre, said the centre is equipped with facilities as per the GDRFA standards. “To be accredited by the GDRFA, the typing centres need to have a space of at least 1500 square metres, a token system, security and camera systems and a waiting area,” he said, adding that the centre aims to make visa application procedures as efficient as possible for customers.
Elaborating on the new system, Colonel Hussain Ebrahim, assistant of the director-general for administrative support at the GDRFA, earlier said: “The UAE Vision System is a new system where public members will be able to visit any of the typing service offices and submit their transactions without having to visit the GDRFA building or any of the centres to complete their transactions as everything will be done at the typing centre only.”
Visa applicants are urged to provide accurate contact information to typing centres. Those who apply for visit visa-related transactions will have it sent to their email and those applying for residency visa service will have it sent to them via Zajel courier service, Col Ebrahim explained.
Zajel counters will be available at all approved typing centres. Those applying for residency visas can hand over their passport to the counter after the application process is complete. The Zajel courier service will deliver the customer’s passport once the visa is issued and stamped.
(Source: GulfNews.com)