The date for implementation of the new service has not been finalised yet, but it is expected to begin within three to six months.
Raghu Athimoolam, chief operating officer of VFS TasHeel International, said that adequate arrangements have been made to meet the requirements.
“The biometric screening that begins soon at VFS TasHeel is a simple procedure that only takes a few minutes to complete at the VFS TasHeel visa service centres. More information on biometrics will be made available once the service is launched in coming months,” he said.
Although VFS TasHeel International’s services do not offer visa application for Haj and Umrah, the company will provide the screening services to those planning to go on pilgrimage as well.
However, Athimoolam was confident that the arrangements made for the services will be sufficient for all the applicants. Currently, the Dubai centre serves about 400 applicants every day, while 150 to 170 applicants visit the centres in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
The visa service provider has set up nine counters at its Dubai office, while the Sharjah office has six counters and seven counters have been created at the Abu Dhabi office. The officials were hopeful that these counters will be sufficient to meet the demand as the expected time for each screening is only two minutes. VFS TasHeel is the first company to get a mandate from any Gulf country to process visas as a third party. For Saudi Arabia, it is a huge step in terms of entrusting a third party to do this.
The new arrangement has changed the way services were offered to visa applicants as these centres are opened for extended hours and situated in ideal locations. Services include dissemination of visa information, application guidance, application submission and processing, application tracking, status notifications and alerts, and passport delivery.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Imran Mojib
Quelle/Source: The Gulf Today, 14.01.2014
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