India’s immigration system took another digital leap on 27 October when the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that its new E-Arrival Card, introduced quietly on 1 October, is now compulsory for all Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card-holders and foreign nationals. The electronic form replaces the decades-old paper disembarkation card that international passengers filled out before queuing for immigration.
Travellers must complete the card online (or via a soon-to-launch mobile app) prior to boarding their India-bound flight. The platform captures passport, visa and stay information and issues a QR code that is scanned at e-gates or by immigration officers. Authorities say the data is encrypted end-to-end and stored only on domestic servers in compliance with India’s data-protection law.
The change is expected to shave an estimated 30 seconds per passenger at primary inspection counters—an important saving at airports such as Delhi-IGI and Mumbai, where peak-hour queues regularly exceed 45 minutes. Airlines have been instructed to deny boarding to passengers who fail to present the QR code, so corporate travel managers are advising employees to include the card on pre-trip checklists.
Error-correction functionality has been built in: users can amend arrival details up to two hours before the scheduled landing time. However, mobility advisers caution that last-minute changes may not propagate through airlines’ APIS feeds quickly, potentially triggering secondary screening.
For global mobility programmes, the new requirement adds another digital touch-point but also promises faster entry and richer data for workforce tracking tools that integrate with the government’s API.
Travellers must complete the card online (or via a soon-to-launch mobile app) prior to boarding their India-bound flight. The platform captures passport, visa and stay information and issues a QR code that is scanned at e-gates or by immigration officers. Authorities say the data is encrypted end-to-end and stored only on domestic servers in compliance with India’s data-protection law.
The change is expected to shave an estimated 30 seconds per passenger at primary inspection counters—an important saving at airports such as Delhi-IGI and Mumbai, where peak-hour queues regularly exceed 45 minutes. Airlines have been instructed to deny boarding to passengers who fail to present the QR code, so corporate travel managers are advising employees to include the card on pre-trip checklists.
Error-correction functionality has been built in: users can amend arrival details up to two hours before the scheduled landing time. However, mobility advisers caution that last-minute changes may not propagate through airlines’ APIS feeds quickly, potentially triggering secondary screening.
For global mobility programmes, the new requirement adds another digital touch-point but also promises faster entry and richer data for workforce tracking tools that integrate with the government’s API.
