Centre Extends Visa, Immigration Services Modernisation Scheme For Five Years

In an official statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the move aims to provide a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travelers while strengthening national security, through the scheme.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government on Friday approved the continuation of the Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration Tracking (IVFRT) scheme for a period of five more years till March 31, 2026, with a financial outlay of Rs.1,364.88 crore. In an official statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the move aims to provide a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travelers while strengthening national security, through the scheme.

The Ministry said that after the commencement of IVFRT, the number of Visa and OCI cards issued increased from 44.43 lakh in 2014 to 64.59 lakh in 2019 at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.7 per cent.

Average visa processing time of 15 to 30 days (during  pre-IVFRT period) has also been reduced to a maximum of 72 hours in e-visas, with 95 per cent of e-visas issued within 24 hours, it said adding that the international traffic to and from  India grew from 3.71 crore to 7.5 crore during last 10 years at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent.

“The project has a global outreach and seeks to interlink and optimize functions relating to immigration, visa issuance, registration of foreigners and tracking of their movements in India by covering 192 Indian Missions across the globe, 108 Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India, 12 Foreigners Regional Registration Officers (FRROs) and offices and more than 700 Foreigners Registration Officers (FROs), Superintendents of Police (SPs)/Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) across the country,” said the Ministry.