The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved modernisation and upgradation of immigration services as one of the Mission Mode Projects to be undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The total cost of the project is approximately Rs.1011 crore. Of this total project cost , Rs. 132 crore is proposed to be spent during April 2010 – June 2011 (Phase–I) with the remaining amount of Rs.879 crore ear-marked for Phase–II of the implementation (July 2011 – September 2014).

The MMP is titled “Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT)”. The core objective of this project is to develop and implement a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travellers while strengthening security.

The National Institute for Smart Government (NSIG) was selected and tasked with the responsibility for generating a comprehensive e-Governance solution for the immigration, visa issuance and foreigners’ registration and tracking functions, and to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same.

The DPR has been finalised by NSIG in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Information Technology, Bureau of Immigration and National Informatics Center (NIC). The DPR contains details on the scope of the MMP, solution design, manpower requirements, implementation phasing strategy, and the cost estimates for the project. An elaborate list of services (9 core services and 37 services in total) has been included in the DPR for streamlining and integrating Visa, Immigration, and Foreigners Registration and Tracking process. The services identified for inclusion are drawn with a focus on security, facilitation and enablement. Drawing from the global best practices and benchmarking, requisite service levels have also been indicated in the DPR.

This MMP has global outreach since the scope of the project includes 169 Missions, 78 ICPs (Immigration Check Posts), 7 FRROs (Foreigners Regional Registration Offices), and FROs (Foreigners Registration Offices) in the State/ District Headquarters. The implementation of this MMP is to be done in phases and the entire project is targeted to be completed by September 2014.