Tourist visa on arrival enabled by ETA an important component of IVFRT project: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the tourist visa on arrival, enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) is an important component of the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) project, adding that over 65,000 approvals of the same have been issued in the past 75 days.

A release by the Home Ministry stated that a Consultative Committee of MPs, under the aegis of the ministry discussed the matter, with Singh informing the assembled that the IVFRT is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) which has been undertaken under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), with the project covering 178 Indian Missions abroad and 13 Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs), 674 Foreigners Registration Offices (FROs) and 83 Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India.

The minister further stated that the Tourist visa on arrival enabled by ETA is an important component of IVFRT project and 65,000 ETAs have been issued in 75 days, with a jump of 421.6 percent in tourist arrival during December 2014 as compared to the corresponding month in 2013.

Among the dignitaries who attended the meeting were Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, Home Secretary L.C.Goyal, Secretary (Border Management) Sneh Lata Kumar and senior officers of the ministry and Central Armed Police Forces.