Indian missions to outsource passport and visa services

Indian missions to outsource passport and visa services
By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: April 06, 2008, 13:09

Dubai: Collection of applications for passports and visas will be outsourced to Empost within two months by the Indian missions in the UAE.

This was announced by Indian ambassador Talmiz Ahmad at a press conference on Sunday.

“The new arrangement will come into effect within two months after signing the agreement. The community will be kept informed. There will be some teething problems because we have not entered into such an agreement before but we are sure to sort it out with Empost,” said Talmiz.

He clarified that until these centres are not operational the Indian missions will continue to accept passport applications as usual.

Ambassador Ahmad and Sultan A. Al Midfa, Chief Executive Officer, Empost, signed an agreement whereby Empost will set up 12 dedicated centres to receive passport and visa applications. Abdullah Al Daboos, Vice-Chairman and President of Emirates Post Holding Group, was also present on the occasion.

At present, the Indian Embassy and the Consulate together annually provide around 200,000 passport services and 63,000 visas in the UAE. Over 4,000 people visit the Embassy and the Consulate every day to seek these services.

Elaborating details on the centres, Al Midfa said that the proposed collection centres set up by Empost across the UAE will significantly reduce the inconvenience caused to the public who at present face heavy crowds at the two offices and who can seek services only during specific hours on working days.

“The new arrangements will enable the public to submit applications at several centres across the country, before and after their office hours as well as on weekends.
“The collection centres as well as Call Centre will be manned by persons familiar with different Indian languages.

“Trained staff at the centres will guide applicants in the task of filling up applications. The applicants will be photographed digitally at the collection centres and hence will not have to provide photographs with their applications. Further, there will be arrangements for fast-track processing of applications in cases of emergency,” Al Midfa.
Indian Consul General Venu Rajamony said the applicants will be at liberty to receive their documents via courier at their office or residence or to collect them personally from the collection centres.

The centres will also have arrangements to schedule appointments with the Indian mission officials for interviews, where required.

“In addition to the normal passport and visa application fees detailed on Indian missions’ websites, Empost will charge a service fee of Dh12 for each passport service and Dh50 for each visa service,” said Rajamony.

“Attestation of documents will continue to be done at the Indian missions as before,” he added.