Dubai: The Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai has introduced courier service to deliver documents including the passports to doorsteps of the applicants in Dubai and northern emirates.
"The aim of launching the new service is to facilitate applicants and reduce rush at the consulate premises," said Amjad Ali Sher, Pakistani Consul General. He said around 800 to 1,000 applicants visit the consulate every working day to get different services including passport renewals, affidavits, attestations of documents and National Identity Cards.
"Currently, they have to come twice — once at the time of submitting an application and again to collect their documents. This practice not only cause inconvenience to them but also leads to heavy rush inside the consulate premises which is not big enough to take such a huge number of visitors," he told reporters on Tuesday at a ceremony to sign an agreement with the courier company for delivery of documents.
He said he wanted applicants to make only one trip to the consulate to submit their applications while their documents should be delivered by courier.
The consulate has signed an agreement with Dubai-based Royal Express run by Gerry's International - a popular company in Pakistan which also runs FedEx courier service in the country.
If successful, the service will be extended to applicants in Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Pakistani Consulate in Dubai is the first mission of the country to start such a service.
Sher, however, said that the service would be optional for applicants as he did not want to impose the decisions. "We have set up a counter for the courier company inside the consulate and anybody interested to use the facility can use the service," he added.
Saeed Ahmad, Country Manager of Royal Express, said the charges were very reasonable as they have started this service to serve the community.
Delivery charges for Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman will be Dh10 while Dh15 will be charged for the parcel to be delivered in Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and any other remote areas in the Northern Emirates. Any additional document in the same package will cost Dh5 extra. The documents will be delivered in one day.
Explaining the procedure, Ahmad said that applicant after applying for a passport or any other service, would have to register at the courier company's counter and give his address and telephone number.
"We will call the applicant as soon as his or her documents are ready for delivery and our courier will take the documents to them on the given address," he said.
- Dh10 delivery charges for Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman
- Dh15 delivery charges for UAQ, RAK, Fujairah and remote areas in northern emirates
- Dh5 extra for any additional document in the same package
Electronic visa on anvil
Pakistan Consulate in Dubai will start issuing machine readable electronic visas soon, said Consul General Amjad Ali Sher.
He said that Pakistani mission in Dubai will be the first to have machine readable visa service while a similar service would gradually be introduced in other missions to meet international requirements.
He said the mission received 40 to 50 visa applications daily while around 500 to 600 people apply for renewal of passports and around 80 to 100 applicants visit consulate for attestation of documents and getting affidavits.
