The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) has opened a new passport office for Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza) employees.

The DNRD office at Jebel Ali Free Zone will provide services for all Jafza employees and their families. The services include issuing entry permits for visits as well as residence visas and cancellations of visas.

Five employees from the Jebel Ali passport office will provide the services from 7.30am to 2.30pm. The office will serve Jebel Ali Free Zone, which houses more than 5,000 companies.

Brigadier Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director of the DNRD, inaugurated the office yesterday and said the DNRD was seeking to set up office networks to meet all residents' requirements in different parts of Dubai and to help process a larger number of transactions.

He said the office's inauguration came as part of the department's strategic plan which was aimed at speeding up procedures for customers and completing transactions in the shortest time possible. This streamlined service is aimed at decreasing the expected rush with the continued development in the zone, as well as providing exemplary service.

"The inauguration also comes within the framework of service decentralisation and upgrading administrative performance and implementing quality rules," Brigadier Al Merri said.

He added that the aim behind opening the office was to simplify residency procedures as part of achieving a higher degree of professionalism.

The new Jebel Ali office will offer similar services to that of the DNRD's main office, including issuing the new e-gate cards. However, it will not issue passports for UAE nationals.

Brigadier Al Merri said the office was capable of providing all kinds of services, such as payment of fines.

He said the office would start issuing various kinds of entry permits, residence visa and cancellations as a trial period, while other services would be added later.

Brigadier Al Merri said that free zones represented a key opportunity for development efforts in the country and that the DNRD was trying to support these efforts by providing services for employees at Jebel Ali Free Zone.