Govt approves e-visa project

Scheme will include 169 Missions and 78 immigration check posts etc

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared the “Mission Mode” project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The project of the Ministry of Home Affairs is intended to streamline and integrate the visa, immigration and foreigner registration and tracking process.

It also aims to enable information sharing across the agencies concerned.
According to a statement issued by the government, Rs 132 crore of the total project cost would be spent till June 2011, while the remaining amount of Rs 879 crore has been earmarked for the period from July 2011 to September 2014.

NISG responsibility
A government spokesman said the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) had been tasked with the responsibility for generating a comprehensive e-governance solution for the immigration, visa issuance and foreigners' registration and tracking functions, and to prepare a detailed project report on it.

The NISG finalised the DPR in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Information Technology, Bureau of Immigration and National Informatics Centre. The DPR contains details on the scope of the project, solution design, manpower requirements, implementation phasing strategy, and the cost estimates for the project.

An elaborate list of nine core services and 37 other services has been included in the DPR for streamlining and integrating visa, immigration, and foreigners registration and tracking process. “The services identified for inclusion are drawn with a focus on security and facilitation. Drawing from the global best practices and benchmarking, requisite service levels have also been indicated in the DPR,” added the statement issued after the CCEA meet.

The project’s scope includes 169 Indian Missions abroad, 78 Immigration Check Posts, seven Foreigners Regional Registration Offices, and Foreigners Registration Offices in the state and district headquarters across the country.