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The French embassy in 2013 issued 18,000 visas in Qatar, Jean-Christophe Peaucelle, French ambassador to Qatar said yesterday. |
He was addressing a small ribbon-cutting ceremony held to commemorate the official opening of the Capago visa application centre at the Al Jaidah Square Business Centre on Airport road.
About the need for outsourcing the visa application service to another country, the ambassador said that the need arose because of the fact that the number of applicants had been increasing year after year, so much so that simply the embassy was unable to continue to deal with visa applications at their premises on their own.
He said that the present French embassy building had been in existence for 30 years, which was not designed to cater to the huge number of applicants.
He said that Capago would ensure high quality service to all applicants. “When a visa applicant comes, it is the first contact he has with our country. We want that contact to be a good one, a smiling one, not a queuing one.”
“The quality of relations between Qatar and France is so high and good that the quality of the place, where people come for a visa also holds an importance in our relationship,” he said.
He clarified that while the company Capago will handle the visa applications, all files would be sent to the French embassy, which will have the final say about whether to grant someone a visa or not.
Laurent Mallet, CEO of Capago, told Gulf Times that [compared to two counters at the French embassy] the new visa application centre has nine counters to deal with applicants in the ‘public area’, while the centre also has one special premium lounge for VIPs, which can be availed for a fee.
Mallet said that although the official opening of the Capago visa service centre happened yesterday, it has been operational unofficially since December 2013. We handle visa requests from around 150 persons per day. During the peak season between now and July, we will deal with around 250 persons per day,” he said.
