Dubai: From its humble beginnings in 1971, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai has undergone a steady transformation into one of the most efficient government departments within the country and also come to rank alongside some of the best operations of its kind internationally.
With its headquarters sitting proudly in the Al Jafiliya area of Bur Dubai, GDRFA-Dubai serves residents and the several hundred thousand visitors that enter and exit the emirate on an almost daily basis.
Speaking to Gulf News, Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, who assumed office as director general of the GDRFA in 2006, underscored the constant endeavour to stay on par with the best in the world. “The GDRFA is striving to ensure homeland security by adopting the highest technological standards on all levels and in improving the ability of our officers to work quickly and more efficiently. We are looking at gaining international recognition.”
Al Merri also stressed constant efforts to raise productivity. He also highlighted one of the most important recent achievements of the department, the establishment of the new portal concept between land borders of the UAE and Oman.
The project will provide thousands of travellers easier access to passport control services. “A’aber is an electronic system to offer an easy transit of passengers through the land border, which will work on capturing passengers’ information by a radio frequency identification (RFID) by scanning special e-cards used by passengers while they are sitting in their vehicles,” he said.
“Another achievement for us this year is the Smart e-gate system project which has been installed across all immigration entry and exit points, which is easy to use, fast and efficient.”
Al Merri said the system is capable of processing traveller requests in as little as 12-14 seconds while maintaining a high level of accuracy and security standards. “Now we can also go to our clients to complete their transactions with the Amer Van, a mobile office we introduced in 2011. Amer Vans are dispatched to the doorstep upon the request of a customer or company. The van is fitted with the necessary equipment which can process and complete GDRFA transactions faster. Or we can even send our officer to the client to collect the application papers, process it and return it to him with our Barq service,” he said.
Al Merri explained that the GDRFA also allows applicants to apply for M-Visa renewal services with their mobile phones by sending a text message stating their status to the visa officer on arrival at the airport. The officer then scans the bar code in the message to print the original visa.
The GDRFA has indeed come a long way since it was first established upon a royal order from the late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum. At the time, it was called the Central Immigration Department and the Ports and Borders Department.
A year later, with the establishment of the federation, the two departments came under the Ministry of Interior which issued Federal Law No.17 to establish the Naturalisation and Passports Department.
In 1973, the first federal law that helped regulate immigration, residency and the entry of expatriates was issued by the Ministry of Interior. Federal Law No.6 saw the Central Immigration Department assume charge of naturalisation, passports, residency and entry permits for foreigners.
The department functioned out of just three rooms located in a building near the Clock Tower.
In 1977, the Central Immigration Department and the Ports and Borders Departments were merged together with the Naturalisation Department to become the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department, or DNRD as it is now known. In 1982, the DNRD shifted to its current location in what was a small building in the Al Jafilyia area that struggled to cope with the high volume of visitors. It was only in 2003 that the building was renovated and subsequently rebuilt to accommodate the higher traffic of visitors.
In 2009 the Ministry of Interior decided that the name of all residency departments in the country be changed to the General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs, including Dubai which is known now as GDRFA-Dubai.
Ever since Al Merri assumed office in 2006, the focus turned to offering the highest quality of services to the public. It is a far cry from the department operating out of a small room on the creek where work was done manually until mid-2005 and people had to wait in queues for several hours to have their residency stamped or visit visa issued.
GDRFA-Dubai is now one of the largest residency departments in the Middle East with 22 branches accessible to all residents that offer high-tech services which few countries in the world can match.
