IVFRT: Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration Tracking Scheme

Context:

Recently, the Government has approved the continuation of the Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme for a period till 31^st March 2026 with a financial outlay of Rs.1,364.88 crore.

Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme

• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs
• Aim:
• To modernize and upgrade Immigration and Visa services. 
• To provide a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travellers while strengthening national security.
• To interlink and optimize functions relating to immigration, visa issuance, registration of foreigners and tracking of their movements in India.

• Currently, it covers 192 Indian missions across the globe, 108 Immigration Check Posts in India, 12 Foreigners Regional Registration Officers and offices and more than 700 Foreigners Registration Officers, Superintendents of Police/Deputy Commissioners of Police across the country.
• It has been identified and included as one of the Mission Mode Projects to be undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

Components of IVFRI:

• Visa, E Visa
• E Landing card
• Foreigners registration office
• Immigration control system.
• Passenger’s information system.

What are the achievements of IVFRT Scheme?

• The number of Visa and OCI cards issued has increased from 44 lakh in 2014 to 64 lakh in 2019.
• The average visa processing time of 15 to 30 days (during the pre-IVFRT period) has been reduced to a maximum of 72 hours in e-visas, with 95% of e-visas issued within 24 hours.
• International traffic to and from India grew from 3.71 crores to 7.5 crores during the last 10 years.

The Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) Scheme was introduced by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 in August 2005 in response to demands for dual citizenship by the Indian diaspora, particularly in developed countries. It was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention at Hyderabad in 2006.

Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)

An Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) is a person who is technically a citizen of another country having an Indian origin. They were citizens of India on 26th January 1950 or thereafter except who is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country.

Multi-purpose and life-long visa are provided to the registered Overseas Citizen of India for visiting India and are also exempted from registration with Foreign Regional Registration Officer or Foreign Registration Officer for any length of stay in India.

What is an OCI Card?

Launched in 2005, under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the OCI card was introduced for fulfilling the demands for dual citizenship among the Indians living in different developed countries. The OCI card provides Overseas Citizenship of India to live and work in India for an indefinite period of time but does not provide the right to vote, hold constitutional offices or buy agricultural properties.

Also, read about the Indian Citizenship and CAA 2019 from the links given below:

1. Citizenship in India
2. Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 

Who is eligible for overseas citizen of India?

A person must meet the following eligibility criteria before applying for the OCI scheme:

1. He/She is a citizen of another country having an Indian origin. He/She was a citizen of India on or before the commencement of the constitution; or
2. He/She is a citizen of another country, but was eligible for the citizenship of India at the time of the commencement of the constitution; or
3. He/She is a citizen of another country and belonging to a territory that became a part of India after the 15th August 1947; or
4. He/She is a child/grandchild/great grandchild of such a citizen; or
5. He/She is a minor child, whose parents are both Indian citizens or one parent is a citizen of India and
6. is a spouse of foreign origin of an Indian citizen or of an OCI cardholder

Any person having citizenship of Bangladesh or Pakistan is not eligible to apply for the OCI card. Even a person having a background of serving any foreign military are also not eligible for the scheme.

Source: PIB

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