Foreign travellers to India can skip paper immigration forms from Oct 1

Starting October 1, foreigners flying into India will no longer need to fill out physical disembarkation cards at immigration counters. The Union home ministry has said the process will shift online, allowing visitors to submit a digital arrival card before travel.

The e-arrival card will ask for basic details such as passport number, nationality, purpose of visit, local address, and contact information. No document uploads will be required. Indian citizens and Overseas Citizen of India ( OCI) card holders are exempt from filling the form.

This step is part of the government’s efforts to reduce airport delays through technology. Earlier this month, Union home minister Amit Shah launched the Fast Track Immigration – Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP) at five airports—Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichy, Kozhikode and Amritsar.

The programme, which is available to Indian citizens and OCI holders, was first introduced in Delhi in 2024 and later extended to Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Kochi and Ahmedabad. In total, 13 airports now offer the facility, with Navi Mumbai and Greater Noida also set to join.

“Travellers now experience no long queues or manual checking, receiving immigration clearance in just 30 seconds without delays. About 3 lakh travellers have registered on (FTI-TTP) portal, of which 2.65 lakh have utilised it during travel,” the government said in a statement on September 11.

with TOI inputs