Overview

• Effective September 1, the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 replaces four earlier laws and introduces harsher penalties, including two to seven years’ jail and ₹1–10 lakh fines for forged travel documents and up to five years’ jail or ₹5 lakh for illegal entry.
• The notified Rules designate the Bureau of Immigration to examine immigration fraud, coordinate with states on identification, detention and deportation, and run a central immigration database with biometric recording, while airlines and sea-carriers must transmit advance passenger and crew data.
• States and Union Territories are directed to set up holding or detention centres to restrict movement of illegal immigrants pending deportation, and border guarding forces and the Coast Guard will capture biometrics and return attempted illegal entrants.
• The Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order clarifies carve-outs for Nepalese and Bhutanese entries, registered Tibetans, minority refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived by December 31, 2024, and registered Sri Lankan Tamils, and it details limited exemptions for certain carriers and visa-on-arrival or diplomatic cases.
• New controls require permits for film production and mountaineering, limit foreign employment in sensitive sectors such as power, water and petroleum, bar nationals of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan from specified restricted areas, allow authorities to regulate premises frequented by foreigners, and newly empower Foreigners Tribunals to issue warrants and send people to detention centres.