Union cabinet extends immigration, visa, foreigners registration & tracking scheme for another 5 years

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the continuation of the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) scheme beyond March 31, 2026, for a period of five years, with a budget outlay of ₹1,800 crore.

According to officials, "After the recent enactment of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, and its subsequent rules and orders, it has become imperative to strengthen and modernise the IVFRT system to effectively meet emerging requirements and future challenges in the domain of immigration control and foreigner management, including illegal migration."

The scheme has covered 117 immigration posts (IPs), 15 foreigners' regional registration officers (FRROs), and 854 foreigners' registration officers (FROs), superintendents of police and deputy commissioners of police across the country, officials said.



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Huge economic benefits - particularly in ease of doing business, convenience, and security assurance - have been enabled by the IVFRT system. Sectors such as tourism, business, trade and commerce, and service industries, especially aviation and hospitality, have benefited extensively, according to an official statement.

"The system has enabled a 100% contactless and faceless visa process, with online appointment scheduling and payment facilities, leading to faster processing times. As many as 91.24% of e-visa applications were cleared within 72 hours over the past five years. The average passenger clearance time at immigration posts has also been reduced to 2.5-3 minutes, including biometrics, compared to the earlier 5-6 minutes," the Cabinet noted.