ECNR Registration Form

Please note all Indians having ECNR passports are required to register online from January 1, 2019 while going for employment to 18 countries as mentioned in the letter attached by Govt. of India

Indians who are travelling to 18 countries Emigration Check Required (ECR) on a job visa will be offloaded from January 1, 2019, if they fail to register with the Indian government beforehand, an advisory from the Ministry of External Affairs says.

“Starting 01st Jan 2019, no Indian emigrant holding Non-ECR passport would be allowed to go to these 18 ECR countries for employment without prior registration in eMigrate, as a measure of extending protection and ensuring their welfare overseas,” the advisory states.

The registration should be done 24 hours prior to departure by visiting eMigrate website and filling the prescribed form. Successful completion of the form will be acknowledged by a SMS/email from the Indian government.

The 18 ECR countries are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Indian Emigration Act, 1983, provides that no citizen of India shall migrate unless they obtain emigration clearance from Protector of Emigrants.

It has also been noted that certain countries (currently 18) neither have strict laws regulating the entry and employment of foreign nationals nor do they provide platforms for grievance redressal. Thus, these have been demarcated as Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries. Therefore, anyone having ECR endorsed passports and traveling to any of the 18 ECR countries for employment need emigration clearance.

However, people who have ECR passports and are going to any of the ECR countries for reasons other than work do not need to have emigration clearance.

ECR passport holders are those who have not passed Class 10. Their passport will include a stamp from the passport office. And those who have passed Class 10 don’t need a stamp on the passport and their passports are called Emigration Clearance Not Required (ECNR) ones.

Currently, those who possess an ECR passport can migrate to the above said 18 countries only through eMigrate, an online system set up by the Indian government in 2015, to ensure fair and ethical recruitment. However, those who possess an ECNR passport don’t have to go through eMigrate system to migrate anywhere on a job visa.

And eventually, the Indian government has a data of only ECR passport holders who migrate through eMigrate.

Now, in a bid to provide protection for ECNR passport holders, the Indian government has made registration mandatory for them too. According to the MEA advisory, queries regarding the registration can be clarified by contacting toll free number 1800 113 090.

Rafeek Ravuther, a migrant rights activist in India, said that such a kind of move will help both the migrant worker and Indian government.

“Currently, the Indian government has only data of ECR passport holders because it’s mandatory for them to register as part of migration. And ECNR passport holders don’t have to do so. So, we have only the number of ECR passport holding Indians migrants who are migrating through eMigrate,” Rafeek said.

According to eMigrate data from January 2018 till October 2018, 2,86,011 Indians have migrated through eMigrate system.

“When registration of ECNR passport holders also becomes mandatory, then we will have the actual number of Indians migrating to 18 ECR countries,” Rafeek said.

Meanwhile, a bill prepared in 2009 to amend the 1983 Emigration Act is still in the shelves. The bill was updated in 2009 and 2011. However, the bill is put in abeyance since then. In 2016, the 11th report regarding the bill was placed in the Parliament by the Standing Committee in 2016. The bill aims to provide a better legal supporting for Indian migrant workers.

ECNR Registration Form

Instructions:

• Please fill this form ONLY if -
  i) You are travelling to any of the ECR countries for employment purpose within next 21 days.
  ii) You have a valid Indian Passport, which is not stamped as 'Emigration Check Required'.
  iii) You have a valid visa issued by destination country for travel.
• Registration by any emigrant in eMigrate system by filling this form is not equivalent to getting Emigration Clearance from the Protector of Emigrants. Emigrants requiring Emigration Clearance from Protector of Emigrants shall not be allowed to travel to ECR countries by Bureau of Immigration (BoI) check posts located at Indian Airports on the basis of registration through this form.
• In case you are not recruited through any registered Recruiting Agent but have directly negotiated/obtained Overseas Employment, leave Name of Registered Agent/Immigration Consultant/Agent in the Registration form blank.
• Action may be taken against the person filling this form without having fulfilled the above criteria mentioned above.
• Fields marked with * (asterisk) are mandatory. To avoid mistake(s), please refer guidelines and instructions.
• Please do not press F5 or Back button

Form Link :- https://emigrate.gov.in/ext/preECNREmig.action

FAQ – ECNR Registration

(Last updated on 22nd Nov 2018)

Question 1: What is this recent Advisory is all about?

Answer 1:  As per the MEA’s advisory dated 14th Nov 2018, ECNR Passport holders travelling to 18
ECR Countries on Employment Visa have to Register in eMigrate system, at least 24 hours prior to their departure. Their registration confirmation would be verified by Bureau of Immigration (BoI) at emigration counters prior to their departure. One may go through the Advisory for more details.

Question 2: Is it applicable to those who are already working in these 18 notified countries? If yes, how and when should they register?

Answer 2: No. Those already working overseas are not required to register while they are overseas. However, if they come on vacation and are returning back, on the same employment they would need to register. This is only required one time for a given employment duration.

Question 3: Do investor visa holders also need to register on the online portal?

Answer 3: No. Only travelers on Employment Visa need to register on the emigrate portal.

Question 4: Will it affect when they go on vacation?

Answer 4: If the emigrant has already provided  the duration of his employment  at the time of initial registration, and the vacation falls within the contract period, he/ she is not required to register again. But in case one has not registered at the time of initial departure, he/ she may register at the time of return from vacation.

Question 5: What happens to ECR category when they get ECNR passport after working overseas for three years?

Answer 5: They will register like all other ECNR passport holders going for employment to ECR
countries and they will not be required to obtain EC.

Question 6: Do they have to register again though they might have come through emigrate while having ECR passport? Many of them would not be computer literate.

Answer 6: If they had gone initially thru' eMigrate, they must have gone through EC route while holding ECR passport. No registration is required for them unless they replace their passports with an ECNR category one.

Question 7:  I understand the registration should be done between 21 days to one day before the planned departure. Is that correct?

Answer 7: The requirement is to register at least 24 hours prior to departure to allow sufficient time for information to be passed on to the emigration counter for verification.

Question 8: Could you elaborate on the reasons for implementing this new rule and what benefits
Indian workers will receive?

Answer 8: The objective for this registration is to capture the data of Indian emigrants so that they can be reached without delay in case of any eventuality. Implementation of this registration is only phase I of the plan so as to ensure that the system works smoothly and there r are no hiccups.

Question 9: What are the main details that they have to provide for registration and how will you ensure that there is no contract substitution or other types of exploitation?

Answer 9: The information required to be filled is minimal, like name, passport number, country of employment, FE name. This registration has no bearing on employee’s contract. As regards exploitation, any Indian faced with any distress situation already has access to MADAD, eMigrate and24x7 Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK) to register their complaint/ grievances.

Question 10: Is there any fee involved? If yes, how much and when this should be paid?

Answer 10: Registration is free of cost.

Question 11: Will this cause any concern to the foreign employers?

Answer 11: The registration process is as unobtrusive as it could be, with no impact to the employment contract. There is absolutely no reasons for the Foreign Employers to be concerned about the process or its objective.

Question 12: Once applied, can someone cancel the Registration?

Answer 12: Cancellation of Registration is not allowed.

Registration Form