DOHA: The Ministry of Interior issued 201,663 new residence permits and cancelled 100,215 residencies during the first half of this year, with over 27 percent increase in various transactions carried out by the ministry, compared to the same period last year.
The different services centres of the ministry completed 159 transactions every minute and 9,559 transactions every hour, according to the six-month data released by the ministry yesterday.
The total number of transactions accomplished by the ministry during the period reached 41,293,748, which shows 27.3% increase compared to the same period last year. This figures a monthly average of 6,882,291 and daily average of 229,410. The General Directorate of Nationality, Borders and Expats Affairs completed 20,982,263 transactions with an increase of 9.6% compared to the same period last year. These included 201,663 new residence permits, 673,430 residence permit renewals, 97,811 residence changes to new passports from the old ones, 100,215 residency cancellations, 6,121 reactivation of residence permits and 3,723 sponsorship transfers.
The Recruitment Applications Reviewing Committee received a total of 345, 584 entry visa applications during this period.
The total number of transactions related to the Qatar ID cards reached 21,520 marking an increase of 11.6%, in addition to 5,349 transactions related to Qatari citizenship.
A total of 1,417,196 transactions were made related to residence permits and 1,194,431 transactions related to entry permits during the first six months of 2016.
“The Ministry of Interior has been doing its best in providing its services in accordance with the latest systems that facilitated the public to access its services at anytime and anywhere in line with its strategy which was developed corresponding to Qatar National Vision 2030,” said a statement yesterday.
The Recruitment Applications Reviewing Committee received 345,584 entry visa applications during the period.
The Airport Passports Department handled 6,908,230 transactions, with an increase of 6.1 percent compared to the same period last year.
These included about 218,325 company exit permits, 32 359 exit permits for Qatari personal sponsorships, 58 235 exit permits for non-Qatari personal sponsorships and 9,032 return visas.
The General Directorate of Traffic completed 4,231,675 transactions, including 47,280 new licences and 49,531 new vehicle registrations. The Criminal Evidences and Information Department recorded 342,791 fingerprints along with 406,571 medical check-ups for expatriates during the period.
The outstanding services indicators show that 5,448 transactions were exempted from payment which amounted to QR1,440,563 in terms of services for the beneficiaries of the special decision of the Minister of Interior exempting them from payment.
The Ministry also facilitated a mobile vehicle with high technical specifications to offer services to the elderly and people with disabilities in all areas of the state.
