Qatar launches visas on-line

Nationals of the following countries are elegible for the service: USA, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Monaco, Iceland, Vatican City, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korean and Hong Kong.

The move is part of the Qatar Government's e-Government initiative launched to achieve the highest performance in executing governmental transactions electronically, through streamlined business processes and integrated information technology solutions.

The State of Qatar partnered with an international consulting firm to draw upon international best practices and thought leadership to craft a strategic vision for transforming Qatar into an e-Government leader.

The strategic vision developed for the e-Government initiative is:

Qatar Online Services
Anytime, Anywhere
Providing Government Transactions, Information and Knowledge

Overview of Pilot Project:
The e-Government pilot project was aimed at building a foundation for a flexible, scaleable and robust e-service platform for the Government of Qatar. This service includes the Resident Permit Renewal (RPR), provided by the Department of Immigration and Passport of the Ministry of Interior. The new electronic RPR channel enables the Qatar Government to provide some selected corporate and national organisations the facility to renew staff resident permits electronically through an Extranet. The three main parties to the project are: the Ministry of Interior as the service provider; the Qatar National Bank which is the payment gateway for the service and the Qatar Central Bank, which is the current host of the e-Government System.