Lok Sabha Question No. 467 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-20
Subject: Biometric Details for Visa
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: RAJESHBHAI NARANBHAI CHUDASAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.467

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.07.2016

## BIOMETRIC DETAILS FOR VISA

## 467.      SHRI RAJESHBHAI CHUDASAMA:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  rolled  out  a  project  which  ensures collection  of  applicant's  biometric  details  before  any  kind  of  visa  is issued;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and whether out of the 178 Indian missions, only 55 have been equipped with this biometric recording facility;
- (c)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether a proposal was floated to have the biometrics of the tourists on arrival in India and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  taken  a  final  call  on  enforcing  the biometric  aspect  in  the  visa  issuing  process  and  if  so,  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

(a) to (e) The Ministry of Home Affairs has implemented a Mission Mode Project  on  Immigration,  Visa  and  Foreigners  Registration  &  Tracking (IVFRT).  This  Project  is  a  multi-Ministry  project  which  brings  together  a number of immigration, visa and registration tasks on to one IT platform, for greater control and efficiency. The project also has provision for biometric enrolment and authentication.

As on date, out of our 178 Missions/Posts abroad, biometric enrolment system has been implemented in 79 Indian Missions/Posts. A list of these 79 Indian Missions/Posts abroad is attached as Annexure-I.

The Government of India launched the e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) facility on November  27,  2014  with  a  view  to  simplify  the  visa  process  for  foreign tourists  visiting  India.  The  scheme  has  since  been  extended  to  150 countries.  A  list  of  such  countries  is  attached  as  Annexure-II.  Biometric details of the foreigners visiting India on e-Tourist Visas (e-TV) are captured on arrival at 16 designated Indian airports.

*****

## Biometric Implemented Missions

|   S.NO | Country Name   | Mission Name    | S.NO   | Country Name       | Mission Name   |
|--------|----------------|-----------------|--------|--------------------|----------------|
|      1 | AFGANISTAN     | KANDHAR         | 41     | NETHERLANDS        | THE HAGUE      |
|      2 | AFGANISTAN     | JALALABAD       | 42     | NIGER              | NIAMEY         |
|      3 | AFGANISTAN     | HERAT           | 43     | NIGERIA            | ABUJA          |
|      4 | AFGANISTAN     | KABUL           | 44     | NIGERIA            | LAGOS          |
|      5 | AFGANISTAN     | MAZAR-E-SHARIEF | 45     | PALESTINE          | GAZA RAMALLAH  |
|      6 | ALGERIA        | ALGIERS         | 46     | PERU               | LIMA           |
|      7 | ANGOLA         | LUANDA          | 47     | PHILIPPINES        | MANILA         |
|      8 | AUSTRALIA      | PERTH           | 48     | POLAND             | WARSAW         |
|      9 | AUSTRALIA      | CANBERRA        | 49     | QATAR              | DOHA           |
|     10 | AUSTRALIA      | SYDNEY          | 50     | REUNION ISLAND     | ST. DENIS      |
|     11 | AUSTRALIA      | MELBOURNE       | 51     | ROMANIA            | BUCHAREST      |
|     12 | AZERBEIJAN     | BAKU            | 52     | SAUDI ARABIA       | RIYADH         |
|     13 | BULGARIA       | SOFIA           | 53     | SAUDI ARABIA       | JEDDAH         |
|     14 | CHILE          | SANTIAGO        | 54     | SENEGAL            | DAKAR          |
|     15 | CHINA          | HONG KONG       | 55     | SERBIA& MONTENEGRO | BELGRADE       |
|     16 | CUBA           | HAVANA          | 56     | SLOVAKIA           | BRATISLAVA     |
|     17 | DENMARK        | COPENHAGEN      | 57     | SURINAME           | PARAMARIBO     |
|     18 | EGYPT          | CAIRO           | 58     | SWEDEN             | STOCKHOLM      |
|     19 | GREECE         | ATHENS          | 59     | SWITZERLAND        | GENEVA         |
|     20 | ICELAND        | REYKJAVIK       | 60     | TANZANIA           | ZANZIBAR       |
|     21 | INDONESIA      | JAKARTA         | 61     | TANZANIA           | DAR-ES-SALAAM  |
|     22 | INDONESIA      | MEDAN           | 62     | THAILAND           | BANGKOK        |
|     23 | INDONESIA      | BALI            | 63     | TRINIDAD& TOBAGO   | PORT OF SPAIN  |
|     24 | IRAN           | BANDAR ABBAS    | 64     | TURKEY             | ANKARA         |
|     25 | IRAN           | TEHRAN          | 65     | TURKEY             | ISTANBUL       |
|     26 | IRAN           | ZAHIDAN         | 66     | TURKMENISTAN       | ASHGABAT       |
|     27 | JAMAICA        | KINGSTON        | 67     | UK                 | BIRMINGHAM     |
|     28 | JORDAN         | AMMAN           | 68     | UK                 | EDINBURGH      |
|     29 | KAZAKSTAN      | ALMATY          | 69     | UK                 | LONDON         |
|     30 | KOREA (SOUTH)  | SEOUL           | 70     | UKRAINE            | KYIV           |
|     31 | KUWAIT         | KUWAIT          | 71     | USA                | CHICAGO        |
|     32 | KYRGYSTAN      | BISHKEK         | 72     | USA                | HOUSTON        |
|     33 | LATVIA         | RIGA            | 73     | USA                | ATLANTA        |
|     34 | MADAGASCAR     | ANTANANARIVO    | 74     | UZBEKISTAN         | TASHKENT       |
|     35 | MALAYSIA       | KUALA LUMPUR    | 75     | VENEZUELA          | CARACAS        |
|     36 | MAURITIUS      | PORT LOUIS      | 76     | YEMEN              | SANA A         |
|     37 | MONGOLIA       | ULAAN BAATAR    | 77     | ARMENIA            | YEREVAN        |
|     38 | MYANMAR        | MANDALAY        | 78     | ZAMBIA             | LUSAKA         |
|     39 | MYANMAR        | YANGON          | 79     | ZIMBABWE           | HARARE         |
|     40 | NAMIBIA        | WINDHOEK        |        |                    |                |

*****

## ANNEXURE-I

## List of countries extended e-Tourist Visa Scheme

|   01 | Andorra             |   51 | Laos                          |   101 | Thailand              |
|------|---------------------|------|-------------------------------|-------|-----------------------|
|   02 | Anguilla            |   52 | Latvia                        |   102 | Tonga                 |
|   03 | Antigua &Barbuda    |   53 | Liechtenstein                 |   103 | Turks &Caicos Island  |
|   04 | Argentina           |   54 | Lithuania                     |   104 | Tuvalu                |
|   05 | Armenia             |   55 | Luxembourg                    |   105 | UAE                   |
|   06 | Aruba               |   56 | Malta                         |   106 | Ukraine               |
|   07 | Australia           |   57 | Malaysia                      |   107 | United Kingdom        |
|   08 | Bahamas             |   58 | Marshall Islands              |   108 | USA                   |
|   09 | Barbados            |   59 | Mauritius                     |   109 | Uruguay               |
|   10 | Belgium             |   60 | Mexico                        |   110 | Vanuatu               |
|   11 | Belize              |   61 | Micronesia                    |   111 | Vatican City-Holy See |
|   12 | Bolivia             |   62 | Monaco                        |   112 | Venezuela             |
|   13 | Brazil              |   63 | Mongolia                      |   113 | Vietnam               |
|   14 | Cambodia            |   64 | Montenegro                    |   114 | Albania               |
|   15 | Canada              |   65 | Montserrat                    |   115 | Austria               |
|   16 | Cayman Island       |   66 | Mozambique                    |   116 | Bosnia &Herzegovina   |
|   17 | Chile               |   67 | Myanmar                       |   117 | Botswana              |
|   18 | China               |   68 | Nauru                         |   118 | Brunei                |
|   19 | China-SAR Hong Kong |   69 | Netherlands                   |   119 | Bulgaria              |
|   20 | China- SAR Macau    |   70 | New Zealand                   |   120 | Cape Verde            |
|   21 | Colombia            |   71 | Nicaragua                     |   121 | Comoros               |
|   22 | Cook Islands        |   72 | Niue Island                   |   122 | Cote d'Ivoire         |
|   23 | Costa Rica          |   73 | Norway                        |   123 | Croatia               |
|   24 | Cuba                |   74 | Oman                          |   124 | Czech Republic        |
|   25 | Djibouti            |   75 | Palau                         |   125 | Denmark               |
|   26 | Dominica            |   76 | Palestine                     |   126 | Eritrea               |
|   27 | Dominican Republic  |   77 | Panama                        |   127 | Gabon                 |
|   28 | East Timor          |   78 | Papua New Guinea              |   128 | Gambia                |
|   29 | Ecuador             |   79 | Paraguay                      |   129 | Ghana                 |
|   30 | El Salvador         |   80 | Peru                          |   130 | Greece                |
|   31 | Estonia             |   81 | Philippines                   |   131 | Guinea                |
|   32 | Fiji                |   82 | Poland                        |   132 | Iceland               |
|   33 | Finland             |   83 | Portugal                      |   133 | Lesotho               |
|   34 | France              |   84 | Republic of Korea             |   134 | Liberia               |
|   35 | Georgia             |   85 | Republic of Macedonia         |   135 | Madagascar            |
|   36 | Germany             |   86 | Russia                        |   136 | Malawi                |
|   37 | Grenada             |   87 | Saint Christopher &Nevis      |   137 | Moldova               |
|   38 | Guatemala           |   88 | Saint Lucia                   |   138 | Namibia               |
|   39 | Guyana              |   89 | Saint Vincent &the Grenadines |   139 | Romania               |
|   40 | Haiti               |   90 | Samoa                         |   140 | San Marino            |
|   41 | Honduras            |   91 | Seychelles                    |   141 | Senegal               |
|   42 | Hungary             |   92 | Singapore                     |   142 | Serbia                |
|   43 | Indonesia           |   93 | Slovenia                      |   143 | Slovakia              |
|   44 | Ireland             |   94 | Solomon Islands               |   144 | South Africa          |
|   45 | Israel              |   95 | Spain                         |   145 | Swaziland             |
|   46 | Jamaica             |   96 | Sri Lanka                     |   146 | Switzerland           |
|   47 | Japan               |   97 | Suriname                      |   147 | Tajikistan            |
|   48 | Jordan              |   98 | Sweden                        |   148 | Trinidad &Tobago      |
|   49 | Kenya               |   99 | Taiwan                        |   149 | Zambia                |
|   50 | Kiribati            |  100 | Tanzania                      |   150 | Zimbabwe              |

## Annexure-II