With a total of 88 Dubai government services now being provided on the Smart Dubai Initiative app, DubaiNow, Smart Dubai has launched UAE ‘Residency’ application service in partnership with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai. This will help residents to complete the process from the convenience of their smartphones.
Launched last month, the process can now be completed within 40 minutes through the Dubai Now smartphone app’s ‘Residency’ services feature.
Users need only 10 minutes to complete their application, which then takes 30 minutes to two working days to be approved.
The app also helps residents save nearly AED 200 on every new application, as well as AED 100 on renewals, which are usually charged as printing fees.
Smart Dubai has launched UAE ‘Residency’ application services in partnership with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai via its Dubai Now application and e-services platform, which allows the emirate’s residents to conduct city transactions from the convenience of their smartphones.
The ‘Residency’ service facilitates the transactions and procedures required to issue residency visas for members of the community. The flexible and efficient process takes less than 40 minutes. Users need only 10 minutes to complete their application, which then takes 30 minutes to two working days to be approved. This saves time and effort for all applicants.
Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General of Smart Dubai, explained: “Developing the bundle of government services offered through the Dubai Now app is in line with the Dubai Paperless Strategy 2021, through which Dubai government is looking to digitise all internal and external government transactions, establishing itself as a fully paperless administration by December 2021 and saving more than one billion pieces of paper consumed by Dubai Government entities every year.”
“The cluster of ‘Residency’ services on the Dubai Now application will, without a doubt, serve a significant segment of the community, making their lives easier,” Dr Aisha added. “It is a notable new addition to the bundle of services we offer through the app, where our objective has always been to positively affect people’s lives in the emirate. This overarching purpose drives our endeavours to offer a single platform for all city services, saving people’s time and effort, and ensuring their happiness.”
More than 350 people have used the Dubai Now application to issue or renew residency visas for their dependants since the service was announced.
Dubai residents can now easily sponsor their spouses and children on #DubaiNow, the app for all the city services you need. https://t.co/CpYmGWKK1h#SmartDubai pic.twitter.com/BuVzpbMMpb
— Smart Dubai (@SmartDubai) December 9, 2019
Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director-General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, noted: “So far, all residency services were only available through our smart channels and ‘Amer’ service centres located around the Emirate of Dubai. The services include issuance, renewal, amendment, and cancellation of residencies, in addition to amendment of status and transfer of sponsorship.”
“All these services are now available on the Dubai Now application,” Maj. Gen. Al Marri continued. “In collaboration with Smart Dubai, the Directorate is introducing its services on the app in successive stages, the first of which will be transferring the ‘Visa Status’ service to Dubai Now, allowing users (individuals or organisations) to determine whether or not their residency is valid, as well as the ‘Residency Management’ service, where users can renew their residencies or those of their spouses, children, and parents. Phase one will also include a service allowing users to obtain entry permits for their spouses, children, or parents.”
In addition, it points users to the steps they need to go through, including medical tests. The app also sends push notifications to alert users when their residencies are approaching their expiry dates.
The ‘Residency’ section also allows users to take actions such as issuing, renewing and canceling residency visas, as well as managing dependants, in addition to offering detailed information about these services.
DubaiNow is a one-stop platform where the consumer can access 50 smart services from 88 government entities, it helps users to navigate a broad range of everyday services in one go. In 2019, it won the ‘Best Government Mobile App of the Year’ award.
Dubai Now features a total of eleven categories, and they are Utilities & Bills, Public Transport, Security & Justice, Health, Driving, Residency Visas, Islam, Education, Business & Employment, Housing, General.
