Philippine Consulate in Dubai undergoes renovation to prevent spread of COVID-19

Dubai: The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai has recently undergone renovations and has introduced new modular service counters to provide an extra layer of protection to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The reception area, passport processing section, passport coordinator’s office, encoding section, notarial processing section and the Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) section are among the nine offices that were renovated with office modular partitions, Philippine consul-general Paul Raymund Cortes told Gulf News.

“While the Consulate strives to creatively accommodate the demand for consular services by our kababayan (compatriots) here in Dubai and the Northern Emirates during this time of pandemic, we also aim to provide them comfort and safety while they are inside the Consulate premises. We would like to welcome them to an improved Consulate,” Cortes said. “More importantly, we want to make sure that if and when they are at the consulate, there is minimal physical interaction and enough distancing between clients and our personnel so there is less risk of spreading the virus among themselves,” he underlined.

Cortes said the physical renovation of the consulate is part of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) commitment to provide better facilities and services to  overseas Filipinos and in adherence to UAE’s call for a responsible return to a ‘new normal’.

By appointment only

Cortes also stressed consular services are by appointment only. “To ensure that there are not too many people at the consulate at any given time due to the health protocols recommended and instructed by local and global health authorities, we have instituted an appointment service for all our consular services. This allows people to book their appointments for passports, materials, legal services, assistance to national services, and others,” he noted.