Officials from Qatar and Pakistan jointly cutting the ribbon to inaugurate Qatar Visa Center in Karachi, Pakistan, yesterday.
Doha: The government of Qatar opened in Karachi yesterday the second Qatar Visa Center in Pakistan.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by Mishal Mohammed A A Al Ansari, Consul General of the State of Qatar in Pakistan; Maj Gen Abdullah Salim Al Ali, Brig Abdullah Ali Al Muhannadi, Director of Expat Affairs Dept at Ministry of Interior, Qatar; Major Abdullah Khalifa Al Mohannadi, Director of Visa Support Services Department, Ministry of Interior; and Mohamed Ali Al Meer, Labour Expert, Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs.
The event was also attended by Pakistan government official dignitaries including Nawab Muhammad Taimur Talpur, Minister for Information Technology, Environment and Coastal Development, Sindh Minister for Women Development Syeda Shehla Raza along with a group of officials and businessmen from Pakistan. Work visa applicants migrating to the State of Qatar will be required to sign work contracts, enroll their biometrics data, and undergo medical test at the Qatar Visa Center. The center operates through an integrated electronic system to complete the enrolment of biometric data and required medical check-ups.
The Consul General of the State of Qatar to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mishal Mohammed A A Al Ansari said: “In the line of achieving another milestone to strengthen the distinguished relations between the two countries and the keenness of the State of Qatar to furthermore enhance it to high level of confidence to work jointly for the benefits of two countries. The State of Qatar has decided to establish Qatar visa centre in 8 countries to simplify visa procedures for expatriate workers. In the light of the long standing bilateral ties that exist between Pakistan and Qatar and as two countries that share a common ideological narrative, Pakistan has been selected as one of the first eight countries for establishment of such centers in the cities of Islamabad and Karachi.”
“Through these centers, the Visa related procedures will be complete in the home countries of expatriate workers before their departure to Qatar unlike in the past where they took place in the state,” The Consul General of the State of Qatar to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mishal Mohammed A A Al Ansari said He added: “This is in line with Qatar’s pledge to increase the number of Pakistani workers there especially the FIFA 2022 World Cup infrastructure projects that are a huge undertakings, requiring a huge influx of professional and semiprofessional cadres of Pakistani migrant workers”.
The Consul General also said that It is pertinent to mention the humongous contribution of Pakistani migrant workers to the development of the State of Qatar.
He also assured that Qatar has always been committed to protecting workers rights. “Consequently the United Nations Agency, International Labour Organization has lauded Qatar’s wide ranging reforms in this regard.”
Major Abdullah Khalifa Al Mohannadi said that the inauguration of the Qatar Visa Center in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and in Karachi was part of the plan to implement the Qatar Visa Centers Project abroad, which is being opened in eight different countries in order to facilitate the processing of all visa applications, and procedures for obtaining residence in the State of Qatar, which makes it easier for the expatriate to work in Qatar and start work immediately upon arrival.
He stressed that the opening of the center was a continuation of the stages of the project initiated by the State of Qatar to protect the rights of expatriates and facilitate the work procedures. Qatar visa centers were recently opened in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
“All medical examinations and signing of employment contracts for expatriates will be completed in their countries before coming to Qatar. This step reflects Qatar’s keenness to ensure the protection and safety of expatriates under simplified and efficient recruitment procedures.” He added that the services in these centres include taking fingerprinting for the expatriate worker, registration of vital data, conducting medical examinations, and signing of a contract of employment, in order to ensure the facilitation of these procedures and the preservation and protection of the rights of the expatriate and the employer before travelling to Qatar as well as avoiding the return of the ineligible cases.
On the procedures, he explained that Qatar Visa Centres will enable both the employer and the expatriate worker to perform their role accurately through an integrated recruitment system after employer’s registration on the Ministry of Interior website and issuing the reference number for the expatriate to complete his procedures through the visa centre.
Conveniently located at Ground Floor, 37-B / Block 6 Main Shahra-e-Faisal – PECHS, Karachi, the visa center is equipped with state-of-the art biometric enrolment & medical test facility. The visa center is designed in line with international standards ensuring greater transparency, traceability and increased security for the visa applicants.
The center operates between 8:30am to 4:30pm from Monday to Friday. In consideration of facilitating procedures for Pakistani applicants, the first QVC in Pakistan was inaugurate on the 27th of December 2018 at Islamabad.
Some of the key medical tests to be conducted at the center include blood tests, x-ray, visual assessments, and physical examinations. The operations are backed by a team of highly qualified healthcare professionals with internal systems and processes based on the latest medical standards and best practices.
