Residency office to open Saturday to meet visa rush

Dubai: There is a huge increase in the number of visit and tourist visa applications in Dubai in the past few days and the General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai will be open on Saturday to meet the rush at this time of the year, according to a top official from the Ministry of Interior.

Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director General of GDRFA, told Gulf News that there is a massive rush of people who are applying for visit visas at the directorate of residency.

"We have decided to open the doors of the head office to public from 9am till 1pm [on Saturday] to receive all kind of applications to cope with the increasing number of people applying for visit visas," said Major General Al Merri.

He attributed the increase in applicants due to the Haj and the Eid Al Adha.

"We are opening this Saturday on emergency basis in order to finalise as many applications as possible," he said.

Winter tourism

Major General Al Merri said that also during this time of the year, many people visit as the winter here attract people from all over the world.

"Daily, we are receiving a massive number of visit and tourist visa applications from people who want to come here to enjoy the sun during winter," said Major General Al Merri.

He said that the eForm at the residency department will be back to normal by either Saturday or Sunday.

"The eForm system in the country was being upgraded and it stared working on Wednesday but it is not up to the normal required speed," he said.

Normality expected next week

He said the eForm application is expected to be up to its normal process early next week. "If the public face any problem due to the slowdown in the eForm system, then they do not have to worry as the department will look after their problems and sort them out," he assured.

The eForm was introduced to assist companies and residents to cut down on time and as an efficient process and document management solution for government services.