Qatar Visa Centres (QVCs), which first opened a few years ago around the world to ease the process of recruitment of workers, have been very effective.
While QVCs at present provide services only for work visas, it could soon expand to include family visit visas, multiple entry visas and family residence visas, said Captain Khalid Salim Al Numaani, Head of Technical Studies Section at the Visa Support Services Department of the General Directorate of Passports.
He was speaking at an awareness webinar organised by the Ministry of Interior (MoI), titled ‘The Services of Qatar Visa Center for the Public.’
At QVCs, successful job applicants will be able to complete the processes of fingerprinting, biometric data, medical examination and signing of work contracts all in the country of origin, before their arrival in Qatar.
Different Qatari entities — Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and MoI — work closely for QVC’s smooth running.
Captain Al Numaani said nine countries were covered in the first phase, with QVC already operational in six nations — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Offices will soon open in Kenya, Tunisia and Indonesia.
“We’ve seven QVCs in India, two in Pakistan and one each in Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Philippines,” said Al Numaani.
“We’ve implemented a system where applicants will be provided with an employment contract in his local language so as to avoid any confusion in the future. Once the signing is done electronically, we ask them to go for fingerprints, palm scan, facial image capture and iris scan. The concerned department will then conduct security checks before issuing visas,” he added.