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e-links speed up residency process

More than 400,000 transactions were completed fast by the Dubai Residency and Naturalisation Department in the first six months of this year, thanks to the e-links it has set up with the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Health and the Dubai Health Authority.

With these links, the process does not require visiting these government bodies and submit the documents which can be viewed online.

Col Khalid Nasser Al Razouki, Assistant Director-General for the e-Services Sector at the department, told Khaleej Times, “The ‘Tabadol’ project links the department with the Ministry of Labour. It facilitates the completion of procedures for customers and applicants fast and make them less cumbersome.”

Through this link, 154,488 transactions were finalised in the first half of this year, while 339,967 transactions were finalised last year, he said. Boosting cooperation between the two government departments, visa cancellation service has also been launched through the link.

Under the project, the information is being exchanged between the ministry and the department electronically to the convenience of the applicants. This ensures the accuracy of the information exchanged as well as to avoiding of any legal overstepping.

The other e-link project is ‘Takamul’. “It is one of the most important projects the department has launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Dubai Health Authority,” Col Al Razouki said. “Through this, the department is provided with the result of the medical test — whether the proposed employee is medically fit or not — online, without the need to carry the printout of the result.”

This, he said, also makes the process less time-consuming for applicants as well as companies, and it is a safe and effective way in terms of avoiding forgery of medical results as well.

The project, according to him, has seen a huge growth. While 260,000 applications were processed through this link in the first half of this year, 698,000 transactions were finalised in the whole of last year.

“Tabadol has contributed to ensuring the accuracy of information at both the Ministry of Labour and the department, since it avoids occurrence of any legal violations, forgery in official transactions as well as provide thorough figures on the number of employees whose labour cards and residence visas have been cancelled,” said Col Al Razouki.

The project also provides the accurate number of workers whose official procedures have not been completed by both parties (the employer and the employee). It also ensures that the residency is based on the validity of the labour card and that cancellation of the labour card requires the cancellation of the residence visa at the department.

At the same time, Takamul has addressed the concern and focus on quality, excellence, development and improvement in performance as per the standards of the Dubai Government Excellence programme.

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE