Foreign nationals, who want to extend their period of stay inside Odisha, need not visit the Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) personally, as now they will be able to get it from the comforts of their home.
Sources in the Department of Home said that as the eFRRO service for the country has been launched by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), foreigners can get VISA-related services sitting at home.
After the MHA informed the State Government, the Department of Home has informed the concerned officials in this regard, said sources.
While FRRO Office for Odisha is based at Hyderabad, earlier the foreigners had to visit the office personally for getting VISA related services. The MHA has also informed other State Governments accordingly.
The FRRO is the primary agency to regulate the registration, movement, stay, departure, and also for recommending the extension of stay in India.
Now there is no requirement of taking appointment and visiting FRRO office unless specifically called upon by the FRRO, said an official.
Web based application eFRRO is aimed to build centralised online platform for foreigners for visa related services. Its key objective is to provide faceless, cashless and paperless services to the foreigners with user friendly experience.
Using this application, foreigners are required to create their own USER-ID by registering themselves.
Afterwards, they would apply online through registered user-id for various Visa and immigration related services in India including registration, Visa extension, Visa conversion, exit permit etc, without any hassle and obtain the service(s) without coming to the FRRO office.
The necessary immigration/Visa documents will be sent by post on the address mentioned. It would also be electronically sent to the foreigners to his registered eMail ID.
However, in certain exceptional cases, the foreigners will be intimated to visit the FRRO on scheduled date and time for interview.
In case of exigency, the foreigners can visit the FRRO office directly for grant of service. However in case of the Pakistan nationals, the existing procedures for granting VISA related services have not been changed, officials say.