Doha: Souq Waqif Services Centre under the Unified Services Department of the Ministry of Interior performs daily 300 to 400 transactions including renewal of visas, and residency and company’s ID number, said official atq the Ministry of Interior.
“The centre is witnessing a great turnout specially during weekends and vacations due to events organised in the Souq that attract tourists to the market. The transaction does not take more than a few minutes,” Lieutenant Abdul Rahman Saadoun Al Athba, officer at Souq Waqif Services Centre.
Souq Waqif Services Centre is one of the services centres that has been established as part of Ministry’s policy of decentralisation of its services to ensure that residents of different areas have easy accessibility for MoI services. The centre operates in the morning and evening shifts and there is a place for the elderly and people with special need, Al Athba said.
As for the demand for electronic services instead of visiting the centre directly, he noted that Metrash 2 Service includes many services and saves time and effort. “Any citizen at his home can apply for a driver, housemaid, renewal visiting visa and residency via Matrash without the need to visit passports department.”
Al Athba said that the centre serves more the owners of shops and restaurants located in Souq Waqif where they can renew their stay or the facility and other services. He said that the centre is the only one of its kind in the market, and there is no other one in the Souq Waqif of Al Wakra, and it is marked by its heritage so sometimes people just come to see it.
“The transactions at Souq Waqif Services Centre which are around 9,000 a month have greatly reduced crowds at General Directorate of Passports,” he pointed out mentioning that in almost all the areas in Qatar there is a centre for such services either in Al Shahaniya, Al Shamal, Al Wakra or other areas.
