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Dubai: Residents are completing their Ministry of Labour transactions in less than three minutes via the ministry’s smartphone app, officials said.

More than 112,000 people have downloaded the app, which boasts a satisfaction rate of 86 per cent, said labour officials on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Labour received the best M-Government services via smartphones from the Economy and Commerce sector at the national level during the award’s second edition, which includes several categories at the national, Arab and international levels.

Nabeel Al Zarouni, Deputy Director of the IT Department at the ministry, said, “The ministry’s app could be downloaded for Apple and Android smartphones, tablet or PCs and is available in both English and Arabic.”

He explained that the ministry’s app, which provides many services to customers smoothly and very efficiently, contributes effectively towards monitoring and regulating the labour market.

Al Zarouni said, “The services of the ministry through its smartphone application includes a variety of procedural services, basic information and inquiry services. The app was developed to serve employers, employees and members of the community in general.”

Al Zarouni also noted that “renewing work permits is the most commonly used service within the ministry’s app statistic show, followed by payments of the initial approval for obtaining the work permit and retrieval of bank guarantees, and updating data of work permits and trade licences”.

He confirmed that the ministry has ensured the smartphone application is user-friendly to achieve ease in completing any transaction.

“During 2014, and throughout the development process of the application, the team held numerous brainstorming sessions and learnt from other entities best practices to come up with the third version of the application, which has gained excellent reviews and 86 per cent customer satisfaction level,” Al Zarouni said.

In a related context, customers using the application of the Ministry of Labour available on smartphones, confirmed that the average completion time of some transactions, including the cancellation and renewal of work permits, takes about three minutes only.

User testimonies

Saleh Hussain, a Public Relations Officer at Massoud Al Ameri, an electronic services firm, said, “The ministry Smartphone application cuts time in completing transactions, which saves our overall time and efforts.”

He stressed that he will completes all of the company’s transactions within a few minutes.

Ayman Abdul Baqi said his company, which specialises in transportation in Dubai, used to face difficulties in completing transactions especially with regard to time and efforts made to get or renew work permits,

“For example, permit transactions took nearly two hours to complete, but now through the app, we complete it within a few minutes,” he said.