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The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme beyond March 31, for a period of five years, till 2031 with budget outlay of ₹1,800 crore.
The, IVFRT platform seeks to interlink and optimise functions related to immigration, visa issuance and registration of foreigners in India.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on May 13, 2010 with a budget outlay of ₹1,011 crore and with project duration till September, 2014.
The scheme seeks to expand and strengthen the scope and capacity of the existing IVFRT Scheme without compromising the security architecture. After the recent enactment of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 and its subsequent Rules and Order, it has become imperative to strengthen and modernize the Immigration, Visa, and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) system to effectively meet emerging requirements and future challenges in the domain of immigration control and foreigner management including illegal migration, a government statement said.
The scheme will modernize the immigration and visa ecosystem through adoption of emerging technologies, including mobile-based services and self-service kiosks for seamless and secure passenger movement. It will upgrade and expand core infrastructure across Immigration Posts, FRROs, and Data Centres to build a resilient and scalable system nationwide.
IVFRT system has led to significant improvements in service delivery and operational efficiency across immigration and visa functions. The system has enabled a 100% contactless and faceless visa process with online appointment scheduling and payment facilities, leading to faster visa processing times with 91.24% of e-Visa applications have been cleared within 72 hours during the past five years. Average passenger clearance time at Immigration Posts has also been reduced to 2.5-3 minutes including biometrics, from the conventional 5-6 minutes.
Published – March 25, 2026 05:42 pm IST
