The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 – A major transformative shift in immigration process in India
Atanu Halder (Student of 6th Semester)
The Immigration and Foreigner’s Act, 2025 provides the unified legal structure to deal with immigration. This Act replaces the laws of the colonial era such as the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Registration and Foreigners, Act, 1939, and the Foreigners Act, 1946 along with the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000, to prevent the out-dated jargons. By repealing the out-dated legislations, this Act addresses the regulatory structure with centralised executive discretion.
Key Features of the Act:
- The immigration will be supervised by the Commissioner of Bureau, appointed by central government, to discharge the functions like issuance of visas and regulation of entry into India and regulate.
- Passports along with visas are mandatory in case of foreigners to regulate entry or exit from India.
- The Foreigners must report to the Foreigners Registration office on their arrival.
- All the undocumented carriers shall be confiscated and fines upto 5 lakhs.
- The Act provides arrest without warrant by not below the rank of head constable.
- The Act provides for penalization for undocumented foreigners, upto 5 years imprisonment or 5 lakh rupees fine or both.
- Educational institution, hospitals shall provide information’s related to foreigners to the registration officer.
Loopholes of the Act:
- No legal distinction among refugees, statelessness, seekers. The Act lacks recognition of statelessness.
- Risk of prolonged adjudicatory procedure to prove citizenship as a burden of proof relies on the accused.
- Incorporation of vague terms like ‘threat to sovereignty’ or ‘risk of national security’.
- Limited judicial intervention.
- Solely depends upon executive discretion.
Suggestions:
- Incorporation of a clear definition of recognition of statelessness.
- The burden of proof shall lie on the State and the standard of evidence shall be in compliance with the provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 to deal with admissibility or non-admissibility of the evidence.
- Incorporation of definite time frame within which the adjudicatory procedure shall be exhausted.
- Too much adjudicatory powers are concentrated on the Central Government which needs to be checked.