Dubai now has 15 smart Amer centres
dubai — Residents in Dubai now have 15 Amer centres, the onestop smart counters introduced last November, to complete the visa and residency transactions without having to visit the general directorate of residency and foreigners affairs (GDRFA) offices.
According to the GDRFA-Dubai, 44,100 transactions were completed at the 15 centres that opened last year. Fifty Amer centres are expected to replace 600 typing centres in the emirate in the long run.
From November 1, 2017, typing centres in the UAE stopped processing visa-related services due to repeated instances of documents going missing and filing of wrong information.
As the GDRFA unveiled a report to highlight its last year’s achievements, it said Amer centres are expected to increase efficiency and finish up to 6,000 transactions a day. It receives and processes UAE visa applications and routes them to the GDRFA electronically, enabling residents to finish visa transactions without visiting the GDRFA headquarters or any of its external branches.
Travellers to Dubai
Separately, the number of travellers in Dubai (arrivals and departures) through sea, land and airports touched 52.95 million, according to the GDRFA-Dubai report. This marks a 6.6 per cent increase in the number of travellers recorded in 2016 (46.82 million).
Major-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, director general of GDRFA, said: “We are committed to providing the highest standards of safety and quality at our airports in response to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make the Dubai International Airport a gateway of peace for people from different countries.”
Meanwhile, the authority carried out 18.63 million residency-related transactions in 2017, ranging from entry permits to issuing residence visas and UAE passports. The number of visas issued and renewed touched 3.88 million, while almost 15 million entry permits were issued last year.
A total of 14,893 people were caught in Dubai last year for staying in the country illegally. The DRFA-Dubai carried out 240 campaigns to monitor illegals. The first centre was opened in Al Muhaisnah 4 in May 2017, while the second was inaugurated in October at Al Kifaf Municipality centre.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com
The services
The Amer centres provide services including issuing entry permits, issuing or renewing residency visa and visa cancellation, among other related services provided by government institutions and departments. Residents and companies can now apply for visa applications on smartphones, by visiting www. amer.ae.