Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced on Tuesday, October 6, the launch of a service allowing Syrians abroad to obtain criminal record certificates through diplomatic and consular missions, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior’s Criminal Investigation Department.

Mohammad Yaqub al-Omar, director of the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Affairs Department, told the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that applications for the new service are now officially available through the ministry’s mobile app, MOFA SY. He said the step is part of plans to digitize and automate consular work to simplify procedures for Syrians abroad.

Al-Omar said the service has initially been activated at 13 Syrian diplomatic and consular missions across the Gulf, the surrounding region, and Europe. These include Riyadh, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Muscat, Beirut, and Tripoli, alongside Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Athens, Rome, and Vienna.

He said the main aim is to save Syrian citizens living abroad time and effort and make it easier for them to obtain official documents without lengthy procedures. Work is continuing to expand the service gradually to the remaining Syrian missions worldwide, he added.

In July, al-Omar announced the activation of birth and death registration services at several Syrian diplomatic and consular missions abroad, including Athens, Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Rome, Vienna, Prague, and Geneva. Under this service, births and deaths are entered into civil registers within no more than 72 hours.

What Does MOFA SY Offer?

On November 13, 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates officially launched MOFA SY for users worldwide, following a pilot version introduced at the Syrian embassy in Beirut.

According to the ministry, the app allows Syrian citizens and expatriates to access its various services easily and quickly through their smartphones.

Azzou al-Mohammad, director of the ministry’s Information Systems and Digital Transformation Department, said at the time that the app replaces the previous platform, which was developed under the former regime.

He said that platform had security and organizational vulnerabilities that allowed appointments to be exploited and resold and enabled the use of bots, depriving citizens of their rights. He added that a secure and fair system had been developed to ensure appointments are allocated transparently and prevent manipulation.

Al-Mohammad said the app would gradually serve as a platform for additional online consular services, reducing the need to visit embassies and speeding up transactions by automating procedures.

Digital Services to Simplify Procedures

According to the ministry, the app offers users several digital services and features, including:

– Flexible consular bookings: Users can book an appointment in advance for any consular service they need.
– Immediate confirmation: Users receive an automatic notification as soon as a booking is successfully completed.
– Appointment tracking: Users can follow their appointments and any updates directly on their phones.
– Visitor management: The app helps organize the flow of visitors and reduce overcrowding at diplomatic missions.

 Warning Against Intermediaries

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates also urged citizens to observe several requirements to ensure their transactions proceed smoothly:

– Arrive on time: Attending at the exact scheduled time is essential to completing consular transactions without delay.
– Enter accurate information: Booking confirmation requires personal information to be entered correctly and to match official documents.
– Avoid brokers: The ministry urged citizens to refrain entirely from dealing with brokers or intermediaries. It said the app is designed to serve citizens directly, without any third party.

Syrians abroad had long faced difficulties booking passport renewal appointments through the previous online platform because of slow performance, technical failures, and the absence of clear schedules for opening passport appointment bookings.