DOHA: The Philippine embassy in Doha is planning to “institute” an appointment system, as well as outsource its visa application process, to decongest the chancery and better serve the increasing number of Filipinos in Qatar.
“Imagine probably about 100 (persons) are already at the embassy from 8am, the building is too small for our increasing population in Qatar,” Gulf Times quoted ambassador Wilfredo Santos as saying.
“But if we have an appointment system, even if it is 20 persons per hour, the flow will be better,” the envoy reportedly said, stressing that they issued a total of 30,034 passports last year or an average of 2,503 per month, 626 per week, or 125 per day.
Adding to the difficulty is the limited number of staff at the embassy, which he said has remained frozen for many years while the number of Filipino expatriates had increased from about 188,000 in 2015 to 222,712 this year.
Now widely implemented in the Philippines, he reportedly expressed confidence that the new system will be more convenient to Filipino expatriates who have the option to choose a date and time of their visit.
According to Santos, the mission will also provide mobile passport services at various locations to further lessen the number of people at the chancery and reach out to Filipino expatriates in the country. Details will soon be posted on the embassy’s Facebook page, newspapers, and other media outlets.
The embassy is also planning to resubmit to Congress back home a proposal to outsource visa application, which was earlier denied by a former undersecretary from the previous administration, said the news portal.
Santos reportedly said such a move will better serve the increasing number of Qatar residents who visit the Philippines annually.
“I have been thinking of ways to decongest the chancery and that includes outsourcing the submission of visa applications; this will significantly lessen the traffic,” the envoy added.
Last year, he said, the embassy had processed 1,948 visas, making it the sixth largest in the number of visas issued among other Philippine embassies in the Middle East and North Africa. Dubai, Riyadh, Islamabad, Jeddah, and Teheran are the top five.
The embassy in Doha also made it to the second spot worldwide for issuing 48,814 notarials, which include acknowledgment and authentication, among others. Hong Kong topped the list with 123,673.
Santos also bared plans to shift the embassy to a new location in a bigger building by the end of 2017 when the lease with the current one ends, the report pointed out.
“When we go to a new building, we will segregate the consular section so that Filipinos will be able to have a bigger space and then they will have a different entrance, exclusively for them,” he was quoted as saying by Gulf Times.
The envoy is also considering a one-stop-shop, which will include the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and other attached government agencies in one compound, said the news portal.
