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German Embassy and WorldBridge Visa Application Centre officials cut a ribbon to open the new centre. |
From May 8, applicants planning to travel to Germany, Finland, Norway, Slovenia and Austria with a Schengen visa can submit their applications at the new centre from Sunday to Thursday between 8.30am and 3.30pm.
“Visa applicants will enjoy an improved service for their visa requests. To this effect, the embassy has entered into co-operation with the global service provider Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), which will operate the new visa application centre under its “WorldBridge Service” brand, an embassy spokesman said.
By paying a service fee of QR99 in addition to the visa fee, the Visa Application Centre will check all documents and help verify that the application package is complete and ready for submission to the German Embassy for visa processing.
The centre will also handle an appointment system for the German Embassy to further facilitate an orderly interview process and avoid unnecessary waiting times at the visa section. Moreover, passport re-collection at the centre will also become more convenient.
Additional services such as passport photographs, photocopying, SMS notifications and the issuing of travel health insurance will also be available for an additional fee. Interested applicants can also enjoy a premium service in a business class lounge environment for another extra fee.
To further improve customer convenience, the centre will also provide an on-line appointment system for applicants to book an appointment before coming to the centre to submit their documents.
The embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany has advised all Schengen and Transit visa applicants to start submitting their visa paperwork at the new WorldBridge Visa Application Centre as of May 8, 2011. National long-term visa applications (eg. to gain a residence permit) must still be submitted directly at the German Embassy.
The WorldBridge Visa Application Centre is located at Office No. 1, 3rd Floor, Al Fardan Plaza (behind Children’s Emergency Clinic), Al Sadd Street, Doha. Tel: 44 36 47 71 / 74.