The Syrian Foreign Ministry delegation in Moscow. Source: Media envoy at the Foreign Ministry
News |
November 1, 2025


Damascus- Muhammad Yaqoub Al-Omar, Director of the Consular Administration and Executive Office at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, confirmed the Ministry’s success in reactivating consular services in all diplomatic missions around the world, with a focus on transparency, efficiency, and ending previous blackmail practices.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net, Al-Omar revealed expansion plans that include the opening of new consulates in Europe and Turkey, and “unprecedented” facilities for returnees, stressing that digital transformation and strict oversight have become “the basis for a decent service that preserves the dignity of the Syrian citizen.”

Below is the text of the dialogue:

Visit of the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation to Moscow (media envoy at the Syrian Foreign Ministry)

  • Have all diplomatic missions returned to providing consular services in Syrian embassies, or are some of them still suspended? What is the condition of the Syrian embassy in Moscow?

The Ministry has succeeded during the last period in reactivating consular services in all its missions around the world, in parallel with developing work capabilities and expanding services provided to Syrian citizens abroad, and operations aimed at raising the efficiency of some missions that are still continuing according to a well-studied phased plan.

Regarding the Syrian embassy in Moscow, a technical and administrative delegation visited the mission and worked on a comprehensive assessment and developed the necessary plan to modernize work systems and improve services in the areas of passports, certifications and agencies, and enhance electronic connectivity with the central administration in Damascus, ensuring the acceleration of procedures and improving the quality of service provided to Syrian citizens in Russia and neighboring countries.

The team also met a number of new applicants to work within the local staff of the mission, and the suspended consular services will be activated soon after it begins.

  • Consular services were a tool used by the former regime to blackmail expatriate Syrians. What measures have you taken to ensure the best provision of these services? Does it include punitive measures against some former employees?

The Ministry adopted a clear and firm approach to ensure the provision of a decent and fair consular service to all citizens, far from any wrong practices that occurred previously. The appointment booking platform that the former regime worked on was the biggest loophole through which citizens were blackmailed, as a result of the interference of networks of brokers in booking appointments and selling them to them.

The first step of the consular administration began by launching a new platform for booking appointments, managed by a central team from the Information Systems and Digital Transformation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which enjoys transparency and oversight, and is available to all citizens without any interference from intermediaries or brokers through the (MOFA SY) application.

The consular administration has been strengthened with the necessary cadres to provide service in our consulates around the world in proportion to the number of the Syrian community in diaspora countries. It has strengthened control and follow-up systems, activated communication and complaints platforms, and developed administrative and technical work mechanisms in the missions. We confirm that the ministry will take administrative measures against anyone found to have committed violations.

The current stage focuses on the values ​​of respecting the citizen, preserving his dignity, and providing services transparently and professionally, in a way that enhances trust with the citizen and gives him satisfaction with the quality of service.

  • How is the process of selecting new employees at consulates? Do you still have a need for new employees? What is the application method?

The Ministry adopts a professional and transparent mechanism for selecting local staff in missions based on scientific competence, experience, and the ability to provide professional and ethical service to citizens.

After we announced the opening of recruitment in our missions around the world, we received more than 27 thousand applicants via the electronic link, and we worked to select them very carefully to choose the best advanced competencies. In the next step, applicants are interviewed at the mission headquarters by a central committee sent from Damascus to choose the best according to objective and precise criteria.

There is a continuing need to provide missions with additional competencies, and applications are made exclusively through the official announced channels to ensure equal opportunities and transparency.

  • There is a widespread complaint that some members of the diplomatic corps who defected from the previous regime have not had their competencies utilized despite their willingness to work. What is your response?

The Ministry welcomes all national competencies wishing to serve Syrian citizens, and a large number of dissidents were invited to conduct an interview with a committee assigned by His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Asaad Al-Shaibani, to return them to their appropriate positions in the Ministry. A number of them have already begun their work, and all dissident colleagues who have not returned to their work can review the Administrative Development Department to arrange procedures for resuming their duties.

A recruitment competition is currently being worked on, which will be announced soon, through which anyone who deems themselves competent can apply to get their chance.

  • What measures has the Consular Services Department implemented to meet the requirements for the return of thousands of Syrians from abroad?

The consular administration took great steps to meet the growing needs of returning citizens, and doubled the capacity of issuing passports and transactions in several missions, as the production capacity of passports increased in Beirut from 80 to 400 passports per day, to 1,000 per day in Berlin, and to 700 passports per day in Istanbul.

We worked to significantly expand the reception areas for auditors in all the missions visited by the technical delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These measures were directly reflected in reducing waiting times and facilitating the return of thousands and the completion of their transactions with speed and better quality.

As for the procedural steps taken by the consular administration to facilitate the return of Syrians to the homeland, it has implemented a package of unprecedented measures and facilities aimed at removing the obstacles that may face those wishing to return and alleviating the burdens on them.

The most prominent of these decisions is the exemption from traffic ticket fees, as His Excellency the Minister directed Syrian diplomatic and consular missions abroad to grant temporary travel documents for free to citizens wishing to return, after they required a fee of $50 in accordance with Law No. 19 of 2023.

This step contributes to alleviating the financial burdens on citizens, especially those who face difficult living conditions or do not hold valid passports, as follows:

  • Reducing requirements for obtaining traffic tickets: Procedures have been greatly simplified, as duly certified documents are no longer required to prove identity or nationality, as was previously the case. Returnees can complete the registration of birth events in Syria directly with the Civil Status Directorates.
  • Free extension of passports: Diplomatic missions were directed to extend passports for one year free of charge, which contributed to enabling many citizens to return to the country.
  • Free authentication of academic documents: The Consular Administration directed the Syrian missions abroad to authenticate the certificates and educational documents of Syrian citizens free of charge, which encourages students and graduates to return, and makes it easier for them to have their certificates equalized or continue their studies in Syrian universities without additional costs.
  • Sending technical teams to crisis areas: The Ministry sent technical delegations to Sudan and Libya to provide consular services directly to Syrians there, including granting passage tickets to return and extending expired passports.
  • Strengthening the role of diplomatic missions in following up on citizens’ affairs: All Syrian missions were stressed on the necessity of following up on the conditions of Syrians in their countries of residence and providing all possible forms of consular support and facilities to facilitate their voluntary return to the homeland.
  • Facilitating consular legalization procedures inside Syria: The consular administration allowed the acceptance of foreign documents certified by foreign missions in Damascus without the need to authenticate them exclusively from the Syrian consulate in the country from which they were issued, as was previously the case. This has had a positive impact on returning citizens, especially from Türkiye, as it has become possible to approve the authentication of the Turkish Embassy in Damascus at all consular services offices in the governorates.

  • Do you have a plan to reform the procedures for issuing some documents in terms of conditions and fees required for some transactions? What about the cost of obtaining a passport, which is still high despite its reduction, and the difficulty of obtaining it in some countries?

The Ministry is constantly working to simplify the procedures for issuing documents and correcting previous imbalances by reviewing conditions, reducing the number of documents, and enhancing electronic transformation, in addition to studying fees periodically with the aim of reaching a balance between operational costs and reducing the burden on citizens as much as possible. Increasing production capacity in several missions contributed to accelerating the completion of transactions and reducing indirect costs resulting from delays.

It also works to improve the service and address the challenges facing some countries in coordination with the relevant authorities. We have witnessed the trend towards digital transformation and the benefits of this in reducing congestion and accelerating transactions.

  • Are there other digital projects to facilitate these transactions?

Digital transformation constitutes an essential axis in the plan to develop consular work and reduce the burden on the citizen in obtaining the service. We began the path of digital transformation by designing an electronic application for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will include all the services provided by the Ministry sequentially, and its version is being developed continuously until we reach the provision of some services completely remotely.

The Ministry completed a technical update in all the missions that the technical delegation visited, Beirut, Berlin, and Istanbul. The appointment booking application was activated in all our missions around the world, and we are working to develop it to include the electronic payment mechanism and follow-up of transactions via the Internet.

These steps will contribute to reducing congestion, achieving fair access to service, and providing a more modern and effective consular experience.

From the visit of the Foreign Ministry delegation to the Berlin Consulate. Source: Media Envoy at the Foreign Ministry
A technical mission visited Berlin to rehabilitate the Syrian Embassy building (media envoy at the Syrian Foreign Ministry)

  • Do you have a plan to expand the network of consulates in Europe, especially Germany and Turkey?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates is working to strengthen its diplomatic presence abroad by reactivating and opening new missions, especially in countries with large Syrian communities.

The Ministry sent specialized technical teams to a number of countries, including Germany, where a technical mission visited Berlin to rehabilitate the Syrian embassy building, and also visited the city of Bonn, in preparation for resuming consular work on a broader scale and enabling the large Syrian community residing in Germany and its environs to obtain direct and rapid consular services.

In Turkey, the Ministry is working to open a new Consulate General in the city of Gaziantep to cover the needs of Syrians residing in that region, in addition to expanding the Syrian Consulate building in Istanbul to increase its ability to provide services to the largest possible number of visitors.

It is also working to reopen the consulate in Jeddah to enhance communication with members of the Syrian community residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Syrian diplomacy also seeks to reactivate a number of missions whose work was previously suspended in light of the gradual improvement in foreign relations. Among these plans is work to reopen the Syrian embassy in Kiev and a number of other countries, confirming Damascus’s keenness to serve its citizens abroad and strengthen its diplomatic presence on the international scene.



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