- Foreign registration was mandated and is regulated by the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 and the Registration of Foreigners Rules, 1992.
- It is a mandatory requirement by the Government of India under which all foreign nationals (including foreigners of Indian origin) visiting India on a long-term visa (more than 180 days, Have a look at types of visa and their duration offered by GOI) are required to register themselves with a Registration Officer within 14 days of arriving in India.
- However, Pakistani nationals visiting India are required to register themselves within 24 hours of arrival regardless of the duration of their stay.
- Foreign children below the age of 16 are exempted from registration requirements.
- Persons who fail to register within the specified time period are charged a late fee of US$ 30.
- Bureau of Immigration (BoI) was set up in 1971 by GOI to undertake Immigration function in the country.
- Altogether, there are 86 Immigration Check Posts all over India, catering to international traffic. Out of these, 37 ICPs are functioning under the BoI, while the remaining are being managed by the concerned State Governments.
- Bureau of Immigration is headed by the Commissioner of Immigration and assisted by FRROs for immigration facilitation service at airports and work relating to registration of foreigners under various Acts and Rules.
- At present, there are 12 FRROs in major cities i.e. Delhi, Mumbai Kolkata, Chennai, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Calicut, Kochi, Trivandrum, Lucknow and Ahmedabad.
- Apart from this, there are 12 Chief Immigration Officers in the cities i.e. Goa, Jaipur, Gaya, Varanasi, Nagpur, Pune, Mangalore, Trichy, Coimbatore, Bagdogra, Chandigarh and Guwahati.
- At remaining places District Superintendent of Police (SP) or the prescribed authority functions as FRO to facilitate foreigners.
For any doubts, please do comment below!
Source: Bureau of Immigration, GOI
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