Passport counters at the Abu Samra border post have been increased to 40. Twenty counters are used for entry and the rest for exit.
In addition, the number of customs counters have also been increased to four and vehicle insurance counters to two.
Brigadier Nasser bin Abdullah Al Thani, Borders Department Director at the General Directorate of Nationality, Borders and Expatriate Affairs said in an interview with Police magazine that “Abu Samra border post, due to its importance in transporting people and goods and to meet urban development, has been equipped with the latest technological devices. A new facility for public transport, which includes six counters, has also been established."
He also added that Ministry of Interior (MoI) offers more services at the check post like traffic investigation, weighing of trucks entering the country, payment of traffic violation fines and renewal of driving licence, among others.
“The movement of people and goods on the sea and land borders has increased during summer by more than 30 percent compared to other seasons, and this is due to summer vacation, so the department works to ease procedures," he added.
“There are more travellers during holidays, weekends, and after Eid Al Adha when we start receiving people coming from Haj." MoI also has other departments to provide services in Abu Samra — Drug Enforcement Department, Criminal Evidence and Information Department, South Security Department and Civil Defence Department.
“To make the procedures easy in Doha port for departures and arrivals, we are immediately issuing visas for them in less time. In addition, we also launched a number of services related to all visas types through Metrash 2, which is a part of the ministry's strategy to make it paperless,” he added.
Employees at the ports and land borders are vetting passports carefully to detect counterfeit ones and also checking passengers for criminal records to prevent entry.
