Dubai, November 9 /WAM/ His Excellency Lieutenant General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, affirmed that personal status and passport services are '100% digital,' attributing this to the strength of the Identity and Nationality Affairs Sector as one of the advanced sectors in specialized performance at Dubai Residency, possessing a high-level work system, technologies, competencies, and expertise that enabled it to excel during the past year.

His Excellency reviewed the strategic indicators of the sector and the most prominent statistics, achievements, and initiatives achieved last year, reflecting the General Directorate's keenness to sustain work according to standards and objectives, and its implementation of various initiatives, innovations, smart programs, and continuous development of work tools.

This came during His Excellency's inspection of the Identity and Nationality Affairs Sector, as part of the annual inspection program for 2022, accompanied by Major General Ahmed Al Muhairi, Assistant Director General for the Nationality Sector; Brigadier Ali Al Tayer, Deputy Assistant Director for Nationality Affairs; Brigadier Ali Ghanem Al Marri, Advisor for Nationality; Major Ahmed Khalfan Al Madawi, Director of the Nationality Investigation Department; and heads of departments and officials of the Nationality Sector.

The Director General listened to a presentation detailing the new (third generation) issuance of the state passport, the security and technical features of the new passport, and the level of support for environmental and economic sustainability, as well as reviewing all details related to the printing mechanism of the new passport. Statistics showed that since the announcement of the official start date for issuing the new passport, the number of passports issued from the Emirate of Dubai reached 6,034 until the end of October. They also showed a high tendency of customers to submit applications through the smart application, with 94% for passport services and 97% for personal status services in 2021.

Al Marri also reviewed the results of the lost passport replacement service via BLOCKCHAIN technology, which was launched in the third quarter of 2020 under the umbrella of Dubai Digital, in cooperation with four government entities in the Emirate of Dubai that jointly provide a package of passport issuance services: Dubai Police General Command, Dubai Public Prosecution, Courts, and the Nationality Sector in Dubai.

His Excellency Lieutenant General Mohammed Al Marri said that this service contributed to achieving a pioneering and globally competitive achievement by reducing the time taken to process the request from three days to just two minutes, which enhances the axis of achieving the vision of the UAE and the Emirate of Dubai for global leadership in providing proactive interconnected services to customers. This was clearly reflected in the rise of customer happiness results for 2021 to 98%. He noted that the second half of 2021 saw the transformation of five new services, including the services of modifying the first name, modifying the surname, modifying the tribe, and other services related to citizens' affairs.

His Excellency reviewed statistics on the level of completion of travel document renewal and issuance transactions. It showed that in 2020, the number of transactions requiring in-person attendance was 25,919 compared to 4,921 digital transactions. In 2021, it was approximately 11,476 compared to 15,636. In 2022, statistics recorded 4,799 in-person transactions compared to 27,681 digital transactions.

Statistics also revealed an increase in the level of completion of digital personal status transactions. In 2020, the number of in-person transactions was 2,622 compared to 7,889. In 2021, in-person transactions recorded 833 while the digital indicator rose to 10,989. In 2022, in-person transactions were 3,903 compared to 43,857.

Statistics indicated that the total level of completion of transactions in the Identity and Nationality Affairs Sector for the year 2020 reached about 41,351 transactions, while in 2021 it rose to 38,934, and in 2022 it reached 80,240.

Al Marri reviewed the work system at the Dubai Airport 24-hour office, the most important future projects, strategic plans, and the achievements made by the office during the year 2021. He also reviewed the latest programs and technologies applied, where the axis of ensuring and efficiently continuing business continuity at the airport services office was enhanced by activating the processing of all submitted requests on the digital platform or smart application after official working hours, on holidays, official vacations, and weekends, reaching 28,764 requests processed.

His Excellency listened to a report on the institutional results for the year 2021, which reviewed all institutional results related to governance policy, risk management, environmental and occupational safety, and internal audit for the years 2019-2021, including the results of the Institutional Excellence Award. The Nationality Sector won 12 awards in the institutional performance category and 4 awards in the job excellence category, in addition to the Nationality Sector winning the Dubai Residency Banner for the year 2021.

At the conclusion of his inspection tour of the Nationality Sector, His Excellency Lieutenant General Mohammed Al Marri honored distinguished employees in the Nationality Sector, appreciating the efforts made and dedication to developing work and raising the level of performance in the sector.