Dubai: The first half of 2014 saw a 30 per cent increase in the number of residency visas issued compared with the same period in 2013.
There were 570,917 new residency visas issued in the first half of 2014 as opposed to 436,993 in 2013.
Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai, revealed the statistics at a press conference on Tuesday.
Maj Gen Al Merri said that the country has also seen an 8.14 per cent increase in passengers entering and exiting the country which, he said, reflects the growth in the country’s economy and tourism sector.
In the first half of 2014, 21,865,088 passengers entered and exited the country, compared with 20,219,288 in the first half of 2013.
“We anticipated those increases and we increased the number and trained our employees. We also developed the e-Gate counters to make the process of entering the country smoother,” he said.
The GDRFA has increased the number of counters at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 2 which, he said, will make the process faster and smoother for people.
Overall, Al Merri said, the GDRFA completed 31,032,662 applications in 2014, which is 8.88 per cent more than 2013.
He added that there was a decrease in the number of reports of absconding domestic workers which, he said, was because of awareness campaigns that the directorate ran on social media.
In 2014, more than five million users visited the GDRFA’s website. They have 22,270 Twitter followers, 3,985 Facebook followers and 7,005 Instagram followers.
This is the first year the directorate has revealed its mid-year statistics.
“We usually just release the statistics at the end of the year, but we decided it would be better to release them twice a year,” he said.
‘Goal is to make customers happy’
“Our goal is to make our customers happy, it is the responsibility of each employee in the directorate to provide the best service to achieve this,” he said.
The GDRFA sent 616,170 SMSs during the first half of 2014 to citizens and residents to remind them to renew their passports, residency visas and e-Gate cards.
There were 6,512,465 entry visas issued in 2014, 12.05 per cent more than the 5,812,465 visas in the first half of 2013.
Maj Gen Al Merri said that the directorate played a big role in assisting event and exhibition organisers obtain visitor visas.
The GDRFA centre — open 24 hours, seven days a week — in Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 arrivals area has helped with many emergency cases, Maj Gen Al Merri said. The centre offers all of the GDRFA services.
“Sometimes people need to travel urgently, and, for example, if an Emirati’s passport has expired, he can get it done there. Also, if a returning resident’s visa has expired, he can get it renewed there,” he said.
