By IANS
New Delhi : Indians going abroad for purposes other than employment need not secure emigration clearance from Monday.
As of now, under the Emigration Act, 1983, a person holding a passport with the emigration check required (ECR) stamp has to obtain emigration clearance in case of an employment visa and ECRS (emigration clearance required system) in case of a visit visa from the Protector of Emigrants (PoE).
The government has now done away with the system of ECRS for people going abroad on visit visas.
“The Emigration Act does not cover ECR passport holders who travel overseas for visits other than employment,” Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi had told parliament Sep 6.
“However, for the last two decades, administrative instructions have been in force requiring them to obtain ECRS, which has resulted in corruption in PoE offices and a nexus between unscrupulous recruiting agents and middlemen,” he said.
According to the minister, the new move would save over 600,000 poor passengers from inconvenience and harassment.
“As a result of the abolition of ECRS, all ECR passport holders will be saved from incurring unnecessary expenditure, which works out to annually at about Rs.6 billion,” Ravi said.
Those who have not cleared Class 10 school examination are issued ECR passports in India.