Major-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, director general of GDRFA, during the opening of an Amer centre
Dubai - 50 new Amer centres - for all visa and residency transactions - are scheduled to replace 600 typing centres
Published: Sat 4 Nov 2017, 8:24 PM
Last updated: Sat 4 Nov 2017, 10:31 PM
Typing centres across the country were stopped from processing visa applications after failing to adhere to certain conditions, top officials have said.
Starting November 1, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) stopped all-visa related services across 261 typing centres in Dubai and 72 centres in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates.
From now on, residents will be able to complete visa and residency transactions through two Amer centres in Al Muhaisna 4 and Dubai Municipality Al Kifaf Centre and over 45 Tas'heel centres across UAE, of which 14 Tasheel offices are located in Dubai.
Fifty Amer centres, one-stop smart offices that finish all visa and residency transactions under one roof, are scheduled to replace 600 typing centres.
While there are currently two Amer centres in Dubai, officials said 15 in total are scheduled to open by end of this year aimed to reduce processing time and efforts and increase efficiency.
Explaining why Amer centres were launched, Major-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, director general of GDRFA, told Khaleej Times: "Missing documents, inserting wrong information and missing attestations would keep residents going back and forth to finish their transactions, which wastes time. When you visit a typing centre, you would witness the long queues in small spaces given to customers, improper customer service and price violations."
He added that with the government's move towards being smart governance, client happiness is the main aim behind smart facilities like Amer. "We want one-stop facility that provides people with good customer service, quick transactions in a clean place to seat, a rest area, cafeteria, and a parking facility."
Initiative began last year
Major Salem Mohammed Bin Ali, director of Amer Client Happiness Department, said typing centres were briefed on requirements needed since March 2016. "We informed them that starting November 1, Amer centres will come to place, giving them more than a year to comply with the regulations on space and facility requirements," Bin Ali told Khaleej Times.
Bin Ali said Amer Centres, operated by trained staff and smart equipment, are capable of finishing at least 6,000 transactions daily through a minimum of 15 counters per branch, compared to the typical 100-200 transactions that typing centers can handle.
"We are talking about modern laptops and scanners, fast internet connectivity and trained staff; a place where mistakes are not bound to happen," said Bin Ali.
Bin Ali noted that 15 smart Amer centres will be open across several densely populated locations across Dubai before the end of the year. The third Amer location will be inaugurated later this week.
He said residents are provided with unified channels through which they can apply for visa applications on smart phones and companies by visiting www.amer.ae.
Meanwhile, Al Marri noted that the aim behind Amer centres is to provide supervised system under which governments services will be unified. Amer centres, Al Marri said, will also contribute to Emiratisation of the workplace. "The point is having qualified people to run the centres."
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com
To continue their services, typing centres have to provide
> Minimum of 4,000 square feet for 15 employees, 5,000 square feet for 20 employees and 6,000 square feet or above for 25 employees
> Laptop, modern scanner and modern digital printer for each typist
> Internet connection with download capacity not less than 100 Mbps
> Bilingual employees
> Waiting area for men and women separated with suitable seats
> Consideration for special needs and elderly for offered services
> Free cold drinks and water to customer, with a cafeteria to provide such services
> Dedicated computer and printer for customers
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Amer centres put an end to queues
When Khaleej Times went down to Amer at Dubai Municipality Al Kifaf centre, short queues were witnessed.
Islam Fahim, operations manager of Amer, said 20 counters at the branch serve customers. Three shifts of employees are allocated from 7:30am to 8:30pm.
"There have been no long queues, but we've seen an increase of numbers of visitors since typing centers across the emirate stopped processing visa applications," added Fahim.
He added that the centre is experiencing longer waiting times due to dealing with common mistakes made by typing centres. "Having supervised centres like Amer ensures that no such mistakes are made."
Omar Sadik, Dubai resident, who was at Amer for the first time to renew a family member's visa, had been waiting for 15 minutes. His token showed that five people were ahead of him.
He said he headed to Amer when typing centres could not type out the visa application.
"[Amer] provides quicker services, but more such centres need to open to make it easier and more accessible to people."
Another resident, who refused to be named, said a typing error initially made by a typing centre had made him visit GDRFA headquarters then back to a typing centre before going to Amer. He was renewing his son's visa.
"I hope through these new centres, we would be able to finish all transactions at one place instead of going to more than one place," he said.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com
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