By Sunita Menon

Dubai No more long queues, no more rush and no incomplete documents the consular services of the Indian consulate, Dubai, go online today. Applicants will now be able to submit their forms online and get a reply or an appointment within 24 hours. At the time of collection, an additional fee of Dh10 will be charged for the online submission of respective forms.

All one need do is visit the consulate web site cgidubai.com- and click on the link which denotes consular services.

About 36 forms pertaining to consular services, labour and affidavits are available online. Each form has an online version as well as Portable Data Format (PDF) version. But to begin with, only the online version of forms pertaining to passports will be available. The remaining services will be included gradually.

The system has been put together by Dubai-based Netlink Digital Energy. Explaining how the system works, Akash Arora, chief technical architect of the company, said each individual will have his own user name and password. "The system has an online profile manager. Once an individual fills up his required profile, data is stored in the data bank. The next time when the same individual uses the online version, he will see that most of the details in the form which appears on his screen have been automatically filled in through his profile information.

"Each individual who has submitted his application online will receive an appointment date from the consulate through email. All the applications submitted online will be reviewed prior to an appointment date being given. Incomplete or inappropriately filled applications will be sent back to the individual."

The forms submitted online will be downloaded at the consulate by a person exclusively appointed for the purpose by the Indian Community Welfare Committee. He will be based at the consulate.

Pointing out that profile information will help the consulate maintain a databank of the Indian community, Dr George Joseph, Indian Consul General, said: "The online services will help us reduce the rush at the consulate." "Plans are also in the pipeline to make the system available at labour camps," he said.