The Londoner

Immigration consultancy is big business in the UAE. Immigration aspirants pay thousands in fees for assistance in applying for immigration, especially to Canada and Australia. However, some clients complain of fraudulent consultants. And consultants claim, their complaints are unreasonable or wrongly addressed.   Applicants who complaint of lack of services by immigration consultants, often demand a full or partial refund, which is not justifiable in each and every case, say the consultants.   Policy changes   According to Sohail Saleem, general manager of Premiers Consultancy, a lot of the complaints are the result of the frequently changing immigration policy of Canada, which has affected qualifying applications retroactively.   According to him, this can be traced back to 2008, when the Canadian government started implementing a series of reform movements intending to bring back the waiting time of approximately 40 months to less tha...

The AOptix iris and facial recognition systems are going to be installed at 100 immigration smart counters and smart gates in Dubai Airport’s T3. Automated iris and facial recognition systems are to be installed at Dubai Airport’s Terminal 3 to speed-up and secure the immigration process. The AOptix systems will be installed at 100 immigration smart counters and smart gates. At present, the Dubai Airport uses e-gates alongside traditional border control points, but it plans to expand the new system to all of its terminals by 2014. “With the help of emaratech (the systems integrator) and AOptix, we are building on Dubai’s leadership in providing the most secure and convenient iris-based recognition systems to benefit people travelling through our airport,” said Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, Director-General of e-Services at the General Directorate for Residency and Foreigner Affairs (GDRFA). “Since Dubai is one of the world’s fastest growing airports, it i...