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Ailyn Agonia
DOHA
EXPATS in Qatar who wish to travel to Turkey will have to process their visa applications either through VFS Global located in Jaidah Square or through Kingston Travel & Tourism and Services located in Al Ettihad Street in Al Gharrafa starting from November 1, 2016.
Turkish Ambassador to Qatar HE Ahmet Demirok on Thursday made official the outsourcing of the processing of visa applications to Turkey with a signing of agreements with the two companies represented by VFS Global Regional Head for the Middle East Yummi Talwar and Dr Afshin Hurmuzlu, CEO of Kingston Global Group.
The new system, according to the envoy, intends to make visa applications to Turkey more convenient for expats in Qatar and to further increase the flow of tourists from Doha. Visa requirements for Qatari citizens visiting Turkey had been removed as of last year. There were more than 25,000 Qataris who visited Turkey in 2015 as per the Embassy records.
Last year, the Turkish Embassy received more than 10,500 visa applications from Qatar while in the last three months of the current year the embassy has already processed around 5,000 visas. Ambassador Demirok said these figures could have been more if they were able to accommodate all applicants through their existing system.
"There is a huge demand for visa applications from expats in Qatar. Our capacity at the embassy even with the online visa application system we implemented early this year did not allow us to accommodate more. With this partnership with the two companies, we hope to increase the number of tourists coming from Qatar. In 2015, Turkey was recognised as the top destination for Qatari people.
"Our relations with Qatar are excellent and this is a good opportunity for us to increase our cooperation in this field. People-to-people contact is important as it positively affects the relations of decision makers," the Turkish envoy said. He also assured the residents that situation in Turkey has returned to normalcy alongside the economic performance of the country.
Speaking on the occasion Talwar of VFS Global said,"We work across 126 countries and with 50 client governments. In Qatar, we started our operations in 2005 with the Australian visa center. We have been working in Doha serving seven client governments for the last 11 years. We are very happy now to extend that to the Embassy of Turkey here in Doha".
Hurmuzlu of Kingston Global Group remarked,"We are one of the groups of companies based in Istanbul. We are here to make life easier for those who would want to travel to Turkey through our network in travel tourism."
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07/10/2016
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