Editorial 2: What's in new Foreigners Act
Context:
Recently the Parliament has passed the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025. It replaces the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920; The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939; The Foreigners Act, 1946; The Immigration (Carrier’s Liability) Act, 2000. This act now regulates the entry, stay, and exit off foreigners in India.
Reasons for enactment of the Bill:
- Previous regulations were based on pre-independence statutes and piecemeal notifications which were fragmented and subjected to ambiguous interpretation.
- All the four separate acts of 1920, 1939, 1946, and 2000 have some overlapping provisions along with some confusing provisions.
- Exemptions provided to Tibetan refugees, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, citizens of Nepal and Bhutan were spread across multiple orders and were not readily available.
- Reporting obligations were manual. This resulted in delays in reporting and data gaps for enforcement.
- The powers of local and central authorities are also not clearly defined. Also the rules for protected/restricted areas were not uniform throughout the country.
Provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025:
- Possession of valid documents: All entrants must possess valid passport or travel documents. Foreigners must possess a valid visa unless they are explicitly exempted by Act or the special orders of the central government.
- Exit and entry via notified points: All entrants can only enter from the designated immigration posts listed in the act including all major seaports, airports, land border posts, and rail ports.
- Power of Immigration officers: The notified immigration posts will have immigration officers who have the final authority on entry, exit and admissibility. They can reuse or validate entry or exit on national security grounds.
- Defined registration and control mechanisms: Foreigners must register with designated registration officers. The Deputy Superintendent of Police or Deputy Commissioner of Police are designated as local civil authority for immigration and foreigners’ regulation.
- Obligation of accommodation providers and institutions: All the hostels, hotels, paying guest homes, religious institutions and similar institutions must gather the particulars of foreigners including their signatures, thumb impression, and transmit duly filled form electronically to the authorities within 24 hours of both arrival and departure of foreign nationals including Overseas Cardholders.
- Educational and medical establishments must notify the foreigners admitted or treated to the Registration officers. Hospitals need to electronically report birth or death of foreigner witseven days.
- Authority to shut down resorts, clubs: the civil authority has the power to control, restrict , or shut down the places frequently visited by foreigners if there are security, legal or public order concerns. Such orders may be issued if authority suspect that foreigner “is a criminal, linked to unlawful associations, or otherwise undesirable”
- Special permit for protected/ restricted areas: Movement into protected, restricted or prohibited areas require a special permit, which can be obtained by applying on designated online portals or mobile apps.
Exemptions are granted to following categories:
- Members of Indian military entering or exiting the country, along with their families, if they are travelling on government transport.
- Citizens of Nepal and Bhutan entering via designated land or air borders or possessing valid passports for air entry to other destinations. They are both permitted to enter through China, Macau, Hong Kong and Pakistan.
- Tibetan refugees with special entry permits, registered with authorities, and holding registration certificates are allowed entry via designated posts.
- Minority community refugees belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Parsi, Buddhist religion who hail from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are granted exemption if they entered India on or before Dec 31, 2014 even if without travel documents or with documents that subsequently expired. They are granted the exemption if they fled their country after religious persecution. Or those entering India after the cutoff date of 31 December, 2014, special protection has been provided. This exemption is provided for those seeking long term visa and they will have to acquire Indian citizenship through naturalization.
- Holders of diplomatic or official passports from certain jurisdictions where visa requirements are waived under intergovernmental agreements or residents from nations eligible for “visa on arrival” at specific ports.
New Provisions in the Act:
- Digital and electronic record: The digital notification data provided by accommodation providers, hospitals and universities will act as robust database for public health management and decision making.
- Graduated fines/ compounding system: For violations such as overstaying, violation of visa terms, failure to notify authorities, The Rules proscribe graduated fines ranging from Rs.10000 to Rs.5 lakh.
- Protection and Appeal mechanism: It clarifies appeals for fines, penalties and exceptions for certain humanitarian cases. They provide limited production for bona fide mistakes.
- No discretionary exemption at local level: All exemption for entry, visa, documentation and protected/restricted area permits will be on the orders already published by the central government.
Way Forward:
It reduces the ambiguity by clearly designating all the concerned officers and electronic records. Also the new law reduces litigation by making some offenses compoundable quickly by paying a prescribed fine. Also the discretionary exemptions are reduced to minimal levels. The citizenship is mentioned in the Central list. This act has strengthened the federalism by clearly defining the role of States in this matter. This Act is a comprehensive law covering all aspects of citizenship.