Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on the uses of smart cards, officially launched last October for Qataris, IT Department director at the Ministry of Interior, Col Saleh Khamis al-Kobeisi, said that expatriates would start receiving smart cards by the end of this year.
“We will kick off the initial procedures on April 1 which marks the beginning of the new fiscal year,” he said. “According to the plan of the Interior Ministry, expatriates will be able to benefit from the services provided by smart cards by the end of this year or beginning of 2009 at the most,” he added.
Lieut Col Abdullah Saad al-Buainain, the director of the Travel Documents and Immigration Department, said the new cards were secured against any kind of forgery.
“They will enable both nationals and expatriates to avail of many services, including e-gates at the Doha airport, e-government services, issuing exit permits for expatriates, digital signatures, finger printing and renewal of residence permits for expatriates,” he said, adding that electronic signatures on the cards would enable them to complete many procedures online.
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Quelle/Source: Gulf Times, 09.01.2008
