Tag: VISA

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Jaishankar aims at citizen-friendly passport services

In February this year, the Ministry integrated the Passport Seva Programme with DigiLocker bringing about a major digital transformation in delivery of Passport services, the Minister stated…reports Asian Lite News.

Stating that the mandate of the Government is to ensure efficient governance and timely, effective, assured, transparent and accountable public service delivery, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday called for making the passport service more citizen-friendly.

“The mandate of our Government is to ensure efficient governance and timely, effective, assured, transparent and accountable public service delivery,” said Jaishankar in his keynote address on Passport Seva Divas 2021 on Thursday.

“As we move ahead on the path of progress, we should take stock of the steps in the realm of passports that would make it not only more citizen-centric but also citizen-friendly,” he added.

“Towards this end, our first approach was to bring in simplification of the passport rules and processes,” the Minister pointed out.

“However, as the process is dynamic, we should continue to look deeper and deliberate further on reducing the compliance burden on our citizens,” he noted.

“The Ministry also made concerted efforts, in close collaboration with the Department of Posts, to further strengthen the outreach of passport services to the citizens by establishing Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) all across the country,” Jaishankar said.

“This endeavour has resulted in expanding network of Post Office Passport Seva Kendras across the length and breadth of this country,” he added.

The Ministry of External Affairs has leveraged the use of technology and digital systems into its’ functioning, including, especially, in delivering passport services, the Minister said.

“Our continuing consolidation and expansion of Passport services has ensured that there is a Passport Kendra in 489 Lok Sabha Constituencies in the country,” he said.

It is also noteworthy that two ‘All Women Passport Seva Kendra’ became operational at Delhi and Cochin, marking the International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021 and extending passport services exclusively to our sisters, daughters and mothers, the External Affairs Minister informed.

Continuing with its global outreach exercise, he said that the Ministry has integrated 174 Indian Embassies and Consulates abroad with the Passport Seva Programme enabling a centralized passport issuance system for our citizens in India and Diaspora abroad.

In February this year, the Ministry integrated the Passport Seva Programme with DigiLocker bringing about a major digital transformation in delivery of Passport services, the Minister stated.

This has enabled citizens to submit various documents for obtaining Passport services through DigiLocker in a paperless mode, he mentioned.

https://twitter.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1407951117833490436

Noting that the Passport Seva Programme (PSP) has successfully completed a decade in service of our citizens, Jaishankar informed that annually over 1 crore passports have been issued for three consecutive years till 2019.
“Despite the pandemic, we continued to deliver passports in a timely manner and hope to reach pre-pandemic levels as soon as possible,” he said.

Emphasizing on the word ‘Seva’ as contained in the ‘Passport Seva Project’, the Minister said, the attributes of being responsive, caring, considerate, and transparent are necessary for every ‘Sevak’.

He hailed all the personnel involved in rendering passport and related services for their collective dedication to the citizens of the country, despite the challenges and restrictions posed by the continuing pandemic nationally and globally. (INN)

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Arab News Asia News

Kuwait lifts bar on visas for Pak citizens

This decision was taken after a meeting between Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah…reports Asian Lite News

After a ten-years of suspension, Kuwait on Sunday announced the resumption of visas, including in family and business categories for Pakistani citizens.

This decision was taken after a meeting between Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, reported The Express Tribune.

It further reported that Kuwait had banned work visas for Pakistan in 2011 and despite attempts by previous governments the restrictions could not be lifted.

In March 2017, the then government had also announced the lifting of the ban by Kuwait during the visit of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to the oil-rich country. However, the decision was never implemented.

The interior minister said that Pakistani families and the business community faced enormous problems with the ban on Kuwaiti visa, adding that Pakistani labour played a very important role in Kuwait’s early development, The Express Tribune reported.

He said that the restoration of work visa will create new employment opportunities for Pakistanis, adding that it would also boost trade between the two countries. (ANI)

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Priti unveils UK digital visa

It will be required of all non-British or Irish citizens without a visa or immigration status who come to the UK…reports Asian Lite News.

Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday said new US-style electronic border permits will give ministers a clearer idea of who is in the country.

A planned Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would allow officials to “count people in and count people out”, the home secretary said, according to BBC.

In an online speech, Patel said the electronic permits would create a “fully digital” and more secure UK border.

It will be required of all non-British or Irish citizens without a visa or immigration status who come to the UK.

The Labour Party has warned of “serious questions” over delivering the system.

“The home secretary talks about a broken asylum system but it’s the Conservatives who have been in power for 11 years and are responsible for that,” BBC quoted Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds as saying.

He added that the idea of e-borders “has been around for a number of years,” whilst the loss of data from police databases in January meant there are “serious questions about the home secretary delivering this digital system.”

The government says the ETA scheme will be fully in place by the end of 2024, with up to 30 million applications expected to be processed each year.

At the event hosted by the Bright Blue and British Future think-tanks, Patel said the ETA would deliver “greater accuracy” on arrival and exit numbers.

“We will have a far clearer picture of who is here, and whether they should be – and we will act when they are not,” she was quoted as saying..

The new electronic permits, she added, would also “make it easier to identify potential new threats before they reach the border”.

Since Britain completed its exit from the European Union at the end of last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been keen to set out a new independent vision on immigration. 

“Our new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and out of the country, giving us control over who comes to the UK,” Patel was quoted as saying in the ‘Observer’.

Travellers in the arrivals hall at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, south China

“Our new approach will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border. The British people will have confidence that the strongest controls are in place to keep them safe,” she said.

The Home Office hopes to make entry to Britain fully digital by the end of 2025.

Digitising the border will mean officials “can now count who is coming in and out of the country and whether they have permission to be here,” said her Home Office department.

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Patel to unveil US-style digital visas to count migrants

The Home Office hopes to make entry to Britain fully digital by the end of 2025, reports Asian Lite News

Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel is set to unveil a new US-style digital visa regime at the country’s borders in order to measure immigration levels in and out of the country.

The senior Indian-origin Cabinet minister is to confirm the so-called “sweeping changes” to the UK’s immigration policy to “streamline” the way in which people come into the country on Monday.

The post-Brexit changes will include the border being managed digitally, which the government says will be easier to navigate for businesses and allow for the first time to accurately count people in and out of the UK.

Digital identity checks will also be used to reduce the need to visit visa application centers. 

Since Britain completed its exit from the European Union at the end of last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been keen to set out a new independent vision on immigration. 

“Our new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and out of the country, giving us control over who comes to the UK,” Patel was quoted as saying in the ‘Observer’.

“Our new approach will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border. The British people will have confidence that the strongest controls are in place to keep them safe,” she said.

The Home Office hopes to make entry to Britain fully digital by the end of 2025.

Digitising the border will mean officials “can now count who is coming in and out of the country and whether they have permission to be here,” said her Home Office department.

It means people wanting to come into Britain without a visa or immigration status will have to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), similar to the US system, with 30 million applications expected to be processed every year.

As well as launching her latest immigration plans, Patel will also focus on failings in the asylum system and the need to crack down on people smugglers. Earlier in the week, she was filmed accompanying police as they arrested suspected ringleaders of a people smuggling gang that used minicab and lorry drivers to move migrants in and out of Britain.

“What I’m unveiling and proposing is a new legal migration and border strategy…, which is based upon digitalisation of our borders, but also the simplification of our immigration laws,” Patel told Sky News yesterday.

“I am introducing the new borders bill, which will come to parliament next month, where we will specifically clamp down and tackle the problems around illegal migration,” she added.

The British government has said that in the past 10 days, more than 140 foreign criminals have been removed from the UK, totalling more than 700 so far this year.

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