As part of the s-Government drive initiated by Vice President and Prime Minister of U.A.E. and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in May 2013, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA-Dubai) has unveiled a package of new Smart services which Emiratis, residents and companies can access on their smartphones and tablets.
With this launch, the GDRFA-Dubai has completed the first stage of Smart services that witnessed the launch of 28 services. Thirty more Smart services will be launched in the second stage.
The Director-General of GDRFA-Dubai, Major-General Mohammed Al Marri, said, "The move is designed to make government services available on smartphones and tablets, so that customers can manage their applications around the clock, anywhere." The new Smart services help customers submit their applications and follow up as conveniently and as fast as possible without security or privacy rules being compromised.
In his statement, published in the August issue of Manafez Dubai, the official bilingual newsletter of GDRFA-Dubai, Major-General Al Marri assured users of complete privacy and confidentiality.
He said, "When we talk about information, we simultaneously take into account the privacy and confidentiality with no room for manipulation and unauthorised use. We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to privacy, which is an integral part of our traditions, principles, values and religious believes." Al Marri continued, "Overall, the GDRFA completed 31,032,662 applications in 2014, which is 8.88 per cent more than 2013." He added that there was a decrease in the number of reports of absconding domestic workers which, he said, was because of awareness campaigns that the directorate ran on social media. There were 14,150 complaints last year compared to 14,741 in 2012.
In another statement to the newsletter, Major-General Obaid Moheir bin Suroor, Deputy Director General of GDRFA-Dubai, stressed the need to strengthen international cooperation.
He said, "We believe that the security challenges faced by borders control authorities all over the world are similar and intertwined and unless we stand firm shoulder to shoulder, loopholes and shortcomings will be utilised by organised criminal gangs, smugglers, human traffickers and all sorts of law-breakers to pass safely. International cooperation has been a great source of knowledge to develop our policies, systems and procedures." Meanwhile, Captain Khalid Ahmad bin Mediya Al Falasi, Assistant Director General of Smart Services Sector at GDRFA-Dubai, said that the GDRFA-Dubai aims to enlist half-a-million people annually for its Smart services applications over the next six years.
Captain Al Falasi said that Smart services save time and efforts and boost GDRFA-Dubai's reach, performance and delivery. He also emphasised that the protection of data confidentiality and privacy, as per the best global security standards, remains the top priority for GDRFA-Dubai.