Explainer / Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) scheme

The Centre has approved the continuation 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.

What is IVFRT scheme?

• The Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) scheme is administered by the ministry of home affairs.

• IVFRT scheme seeks to interlink and optimise functions relating to immigration, visa issuance, registration of foreigners and tracking of their movements in India.

• The ministry aims to provide a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travellers while strengthening national security, through this scheme.

• It is a multi-ministry project which brings together a number of immigration, visa and registration tasks onto one IT platform, for greater control and efficiency.

• The project has a global outreach and seeks to interlink and optimise 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 (FRROs) and offices and more than 700 Foreigners Registration Officers (FROs), superintendents of police/deputy commissioners of police across the country.

• Central IVFRT office has been operationalised in New Delhi to assist foreigners, Indian missions abroad and FRROs/FROs across the country in resolving day to day queries. A Data Recovery Centre (DRC) has also been set up.

• After the commencement of IVFRT, the number of visa and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards issued increased from 44.43 lakh in 2014 to 64.59 lakh in 2019 at a compound 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 during the last 10 years at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2 per cent.

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