After
all the fun at the Medical Commission, the rest of the Residency
process appears deathly boring. Fingerprints are collected by the
Ministry of Interior's Criminal Evidences and Information Department.
Like the Medical Commission, the office is out on the edge of Doha, so a
bit of a drive. But the scene at CEID is much calmer (at least in my
experience). There are far fewer people waiting to have their
fingerprints taken than to get poked with needles.
For
my part, I showed an attendant my paperwork (given to me by my
employer), and by virtue of my position was shown to the VIP line. I
felt special, but in reality it only cut about two minutes out of a
five-minute-long stay. One of the men who would take scans of my
fingers told me I needed to take a number at the back. I did -- number
47. Two seconds later, "number forty-seven please." (As a note, on the
other side, I would have had to wait behind two other guys until it was
my turn.) The printing itself lasted about four or five minutes.
Multiple scans on each finger, a couple of my whole hand, and that was
it.
For
most people, once the fingerprinting is complete, it takes about three
days for the information to be entered in the national system and
confirmed.
As
with basically everything discussed on this site so far, everything
goes through the employer, and receiving the ID is no different. Once
everything has been verified, the employer will briefly take up the
passport and send it to the Ministry of Interior. Along with the Qatar
ID, a copy of the Residency Permit is affixed to the passport, pasted on
one of the blank pages. Within a couple days, new residents receive
their passport and new state identification, and a huge hurdle is
passed.
As
simple as the whole process sounds, be prepared to experience
frustration. Like anywhere, nothing goes perfectly smoothly here.
Expect that something will get messed up, go wrong, or get delayed. But
at some point, you will get it all done...it's just a matter of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment