Dubai: Visa-processing snags at the American consulate in Dubai, which opened last year, are being ironed out to streamline services for smoother operations, insist senior diplomatic mission officials.

While there are line-ups at the Dubai Creek facility when the visa application centre opens at 8.30am, consular officials said more staff have been assigned to boost added service capacity throughout each business day at 14 service windows inside the facility.

The waiting area has seating for 160 applicants wishing to file proper documents to secure visas to the United States for tourism, business or academic purposes.

“This facility by State Department standards is really something, they did a wonderful job with this consulate. It has really transformed the visa experience for customers who come in for visa services,” American Consul General to Dubai Rob Waller told reporters from inside the visa application centre on a tour on Tuesday.

He said 60,000 visa applications were processed last year, of which, nearly 2,000 were Emirati students applying to study in the United States.

“By any standard, if you look at our other posts around the region, it is quite a heavy consular workload,” Waller said.

He estimated that 20,000 people live in the Dubai and Northern Emirates consular district served by the Dubai Consulate with a further 45,000 Americans passing through Dubai in any given year.

“With that type of volume, we really needed a facility like this in order to offer people a first-class experience. It reflects the importance that the United States places on this relationship [with the UAE],” Waller said.

To get better results, he said scheduling at the visa centre was revised.

Waller wouldn’t elaborate on details of further changes to help streamline the visa application system but applicants can expect by the year’s end an additional set of revamped measures that are designed to reduce waiting times for American visas.

Placing higher priority on efficient visa services is critical for American diplomatic officials in the UAE given that in the past four years, visa applications have gone up by more than 70 per cent from national and non-national UAE residents.