The Arab Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade (ARBIFT) announced today that the Special e-Dirham Cards, issued by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Finance and Industry for electronic visa guarantees, are now available at all its branches.
ARBIFT issues the visa e-guarantees through its branches and specially established counters at the UAE Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Al-Ain. ARBIFT currently has thirteen offices/counters operating in various ministries in addition to its five branches in the UAE. It plans to expand the outreach for the service in the near future to all Emirates in the UAE.
Commenting on the automation of e-guarantees, Ibrahim Nasser Rashid Majed Lootah, general manager, confirmed that ARBIFT is the first commercial partner for all e-initiatives of the ministry.
“The newly introduced special E-Dirham cards have removed all hurdles faced by customers for processing visa guarantees,” he said. “Now our branches and designated counters at Labor Departments are capable of providing a one stop, secure and reliable e-guarantee service to all.”
The e-guarantee has a one-time fee of 100 Emirati dirhams per guarantee irrespective of the amount of e-guarantee with no renewal charges. On cancellation, customers are fully refunded with no penalties and no time limit.
Prior to the introduction of e-guarantees, companies and firms sponsoring foreign labor in the UAE were forced to undertake time consuming process of obtaining bank guarantees and incur huge recurring costs by way of issuing fees and renewal fees.
Launched in April 2003, the e-guarantee process has fully automated the process of visa guarantee payments through secure, reliable and speedy procedures and is accessible at convenient locations across the UAE. It significantly reduces back office paper work by providing a single clearance window.
The issuing of Special E-Dirham cards means that even if employers have not yet obtained a Government Client Card (formerly a pre-condition for automated e-guarantee processing), they can still use the automated service at all of ARBIFT outlets for guarantees of Dh3,000.
ARBIFT is the only bank in the UAE owned by the Federal Government of UAE, a stake that is overseen by the UAE Ministry of Finance and Industry. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
