Soon, pre-verified Indian nationals and holders of overseas citizen of India (OCI) cards will be able to enter the country more quickly and easily through automated border gates, or e-gates, which will be installed at eight major international airports and eventually 13 more airports throughout the nation.
The 'Fast Track Immigration 'Trusted Traveller Programme' (FTI-TTP) was launched at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The scheme is anticipated to provide travellers with a quicker, easier, and more enjoyable journey while also reducing traffic and shortening immigration clearance queues at crowded international airports.
FTI-TTP will be implemented in two stages at 21 airports, with the first phase involving the airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, and Ahmedabad. Only Indian nationals and OCIs will be eligible to sign up for now. In the second phase, 13 more international airports will be added to the programme, and foreign nationals will be covered as well.
Shah described FTI-TTP as a "visionary" government programme that satisfies a major goal for "Viksit Bharat @ 2047" and that demonstrates the Modi government's commitment to improving travel efficiency and ease for all. He said that all travellers will get free access to the speedier, more convenient, and more secure immigration processing process.
E-gates, or automated border gates, will be used by the plan to decrease the need for human intervention in the immigration clearance procedure. "The objective is to make international travel easy and secure by developing world-class immigration facilities through an accelerated immigration pathway for international travellers screened through automated gates (e-gates)," according to a statement from the home ministry. Currently, nations like Japan operate such initiatives that provide e-gates for quicker entry for foreign visitors.
The Bureau of Immigration will serve as the nodal agency for the fast-track immigration of different traveller categories under the FTI-TTP, which will be executed through an online site. The candidate must register online on the site with his information and the necessary paperwork in order to be eligible for the programme. A 'white list' of 'trusted passengers' will be created following the required verification and supplied for use with e-gates. The biometrics of the "trusted traveller" who uses the e-gates will be taken at the FRRO office or when the registered passenger enters the airport. The TTP registration will be active for five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first, and will then be renewed.
