India extends visa, immigration services modernization scheme

The government of India on Friday approved the resumption of the Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration Tracking (IVFRT) scheme for a period of five years till March 31, 2026 with a financial outlay of Rs.1,364.88 crore.

The IVFRT scheme aims to interlink and optimize functions relating to immigration, visa issuance, registration of foreigners and tracking of their movements in the country.

Issuing an official statement, it said, “The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of the Immigration Visa Foreigners Registration Tracking (IVFRT) scheme beyond March 31, 2021 for a period of five years from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026 with a financial outlay of Rs.1,364.88 crore.”

It further said the continuation of the scheme shows the government’s commitment to the core objective of IVFRT, which is modernization and up gradation of immigration and visa services.

Under the guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs seeks to provide a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travelers while strengthening national security, through this scheme.

The project has a global outreach and tries 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 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.

After the commencement of IVFRT, the number of visa and Overseas Citizen of India 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.

The average visa processing time of 15 to 30 days (during pre-IVFRT period) has been reduced to a maximum of 72 hours in e-visas, with 95 per cent of e-visas issued within 24 hours.

The international traffic to and from India grew from 3.71 crore to 7.5 crore in a decade at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent, the official release said.