(Image source from: eTurboNews)

Qatar which houses over 650,000 Indian, 25 percent of the country’s population, has opened a smooth visa facilitation center for Indians seeking employment visa in the hydrocarbon rich Gulf state further strengthening Delhi-Doha partnership.  

Qatar Visa Center was inaugurated in Delhi by Mohammed Khater Al Khater, Ambassador of the State of Qatar. Indian tourists have been earlier allowed visa-free entry to Qatar for 30 days.

The opening ceremony was attended by Major Abdullah Khalifa Al Mohannadi, Director of Department of Visa Support Services, Ministry of Interior of the State of Qatar.

Six other visa centers in Mumbai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chennai, and Kolkata will be operational shortly.

The new Qatar Visa Center intends to save time and further making it hassle-free for the applicants. The visa center avails work visa applicants for the State of Qatar to sign on work contracts digitally, enroll their biometrics and undergo mandatory medical test all under one roof.

The move to get work visa applicants to complete the most essential and critical part of their visa processes in the country of origin (India in this case) is aimed at guaranteeing prospective employees their rights in a manner consistent with the best international standards. 

The visa center is in sync with international standards guaranteeing greater transparency, traceability and improved anti-fraud measures and security screening mechanisms for the visa applicants. The center will operate between 08:30 a.m. to 04:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

As part of the visa application process, the employer in Qatar will guarantee all necessary procedures and make the visa payments on behalf of the applicant. The applicants will only need to book an appointment online and visit the Qatar Visa Center fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled time on a given day. Once at the center and after the identity of the visa applicant is verified and the list of required documents are checked a token gets issued. Once the token is being referred to, the respective visa applicant will be explained the contract terms and can thereby digitally sign the work contract. Biometric enrollment and the mandatory medical tests will be done at the center. Upon completion of the processes at the visa center, the visa applicant then can choose to track the status of his application online or through their employer in the State of Qatar. 

The Ambassador informed that the opening of Qatar visa centers in India comes with the celebration of the year 2019 as Qatar-India year of Culture.

Qatar Visa Center maintains robust multi-lingual information services for the benefit of visa applicants across multiple touch points. Information on appointment scheduling, requirements and steps at the visa center can be found in English including Indian regional languages like Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam through a dedicated website.

By Sowmya Sangam