Indian passport centre opens in Sharjah

Dubai: A new Indian Passport and Visa Services (IPAVS) Centre was formally inaugurated on Thursday by Consul General of India Venu Rajamony on the premises of the Sharjah Indian Association in the Al Manakh area.

This is the second IPAVS Centre in the Emirate.

Talking about the outsourcing arrangement in conjunction with Empost, the Consul General said, "We have received very positive feedback from the public regarding the services and the convenience involved in the arrangements.

"We started the outsourcing the service in February 2009 and we have noticed a 30 per cent jump in services rendered between March-June 09, as opposed to March-June 08. This shows that the new arrangements have resulted in the public availing our services even more than before," he added.

Of the 15,800 passport applications received in Dubai and the northern Emirates between June 3 and July 3, approximately 70 per cent or 11,048 were submitted at the three centres in Dubai, 19 per cent or 3,011 in Sharjah and 11 per cent in the rest of the Northern Emirates.

"With the opening of the new facility in Sharjah, more than 3,000 applications will be evenly distributed between the two centres and people will hugely benefit from it," Rajamony said.

Like all other IPAVS centres across the country, the new centre will function six days a week (except on Fridays) and applications can be submitted from 8am to 8pm.

The existing Empost centre in Al Wahda Street in Sharjah will continue to receive applications as before.