Centre plans database to identify illegal immigrants, countries of residence

The Centre is mulling to create an Artificial Intelligence-powered database of foreign visitors to help in the identification of countries whose residents tend to overstay in India, violating visa rules.

Indian Express quoting sources said, once the government identifies these countries, it will work with their Indian Missions in putting up checks in the issuance of visas to foreign citizens.

According to IE, the idea was first floated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a conference of Director Generals of Police and Inspector Generals of Police in Lucknow last November, and was again discussed with the said officers at a meeting convened by the Home Ministry in March this year.

“(At last month’s meeting), it was discussed to create a database for superior monitoring of people overstaying in India past their issued visas and identifying the regions where they come from. In countries like Bangladesh, India has more than a dozen visa facilitation centres but biometric scanning has to be strengthened across all centres for sufficient monitoring so that the information can be shared with our Indian Missions and other agencies,” IE quoted an official as saying.

The screening of countries whose residents flout visa rules in India and the implementation of curbs by Indian Missions will be done under the supervision of the Home Ministry’s Foreigners Division, the External Affairs Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau.

Under current immigration rules, foreigners overstaying in India would be liable to pay a hefty fine, may face a ban on entering the country or even imprisonment, depending on the during of the illegal stay.

Taking note of instances where foreigners overstayed in India despite the expiry of their visa, the Karnataka High Court in 2021 had suggested the Centre to make necessary changes in laws dealing with the grant of visa to foreign nationals to check overstay of “illegal immigrants”.