Now, Bengaluru police to verify local addresses of foreigners

Bengaluru: In a first, Bengaluru city police will verify the local addresses submitted by the foreigners arriving in the city for a longer stay, an informed source told DH. 

However, the police have been instructed to refrain from directly interacting with the foreign nationals during the verification process to avoid causing any inconvenience, the source noted.

Bengaluru city police chief has instructed all the eight deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) in the city to direct inspectors in their jurisdiction to carry out the address verification process. “The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) will send the addresses of the foreigners that are to be verified. The order to all the police stations is that that they need to take the process seriously and conduct it on time,” the source said.

After granting a visa, the foreigners arriving in the city submit a local address to FRRO stating that they would be staying at the said address. Now, the FRRO will send the same address to the city police requesting verification of the address. 

According to another source in the city police, the verification process will include a police personnel visiting the address provided by the FRRO and confirming that the foreign national is indeed staying in the said location.

The development followed an internal review by both the city police and FRRO, which revealed that most of the foreigners were providing “non-existent” addresses to mislead the authorities. The initiative comes amidst the city police’s determined efforts to crack down on overstaying nationals. 

Last week, DH reported that an average of 700 foreigners overstay their visas in the city at the end of every year. In a drive against these overstaying nationals, city police had cracked down on 27 foreign nationals last week. The new verification initiative will address this overstaying issue by cracking down on foreigners, who are likely to overstay by providing false addresses. 

An officer in the city police noted that this is an extra burden on the investigators, but it also addresses an important issue. Therefore, the move was much needed.