Dubai honours top Amer centres, launches new award to boost service excellence

Dubai: In a celebration of public service excellence, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai honoured the best-performing "Amer" centres during a special ceremony held at the InterContinental Dubai – Festival City.

The event also marked the launch of a new annual initiative—the Service Pioneers Award—aimed at raising the bar for customer-focused government services.

Amer centres were evaluated across key performance indicators such as customer satisfaction, mystery shopper reports, and complaint handling. Based on these benchmarks, centres were ranked in five performance tiers: Certified, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

In addition to institutional awards, individual employees were recognised for exceptional performance in categories such as customer reception, innovation, professionalism, and behind-the-scenes contributions.

Lt. General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of GDRFA Dubai, praised Amer centres as a model of Dubai’s commitment to smart, people-centric governance. “The real investment in improving government work starts at the first point of contact with the customer,” he said.

He noted that the Amer model was studied in 2016 and launched in 2017, and has since become a shared success story aligned with Dubai’s broader vision for seamless public services.

“This award is more than a thank-you—it’s a tool for accountability and continuous improvement,” Al Marri added, noting that centres failing to meet the required standards will be expected to raise their performance.

The newly introduced Pioneers of Service Award will now be held every year to recognise innovation, creativity, and commitment in public service delivery. GDRFA hopes the award will encourage long-term excellence and inspire Amer centres to continue evolving with the needs of residents and visitors.

Brigadier Khalaf Ahmed Al Gaith, Assistant Director General for the Entry Permits and Residency Sector, lauded Amer centres as “the true extension of GDRFA’s mission.” With 80 branches across Dubai, Amer centres handled over 1.8 million transactions from January to May 2025 alone. In 2024, the number exceeded 5.2 million, including vital services such as residency violator settlements.

“These figures reflect not just efficiency, but trust,” he said, underscoring the critical role Amer centres play in ensuring government services are accessible, reliable, and customer-friendly.