The facility was inaugurated at seven airports by Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Ahmedabad | File Photo
Mumbai: The much awaited Fast Track Immigration – Trusted Traveller Program (FTI – TTP) was launched at Mumbai Airport, ensuring fast and seamless immigration for Indian and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI). The facility was inaugurated at seven airports by Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Ahmedabad.
After the launch of fast track immigration at Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in June, the facility was scheduled to be launched at seven other airports including Mumbai on December 30. However, the inauguration was abruptly postponed by the Bureau of Immigration. The Free Press Journal had exclusively reported on December 29 about the postponement.
File Photo
Finally, the FTI – TTP facility was inaugurated on Thursday at seven airports including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin and Ahmedabad. Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah inaugurated these facilities from Ahmedabad. The facility is planned to be implemented at a total of 21 major airports across the country.
The facility, which has been initially launched free of cost, will speed up the immigration clearance process for Indian nationals and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders. The eligible applicants can save time during departure and arrival by going through a streamlined immigration process from e-gates which uses biometrics information including the fingerprint and face image.
Applicants can enroll in this program by registering themselves on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ website. The biometric data of registered applicants will be captured either at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) or while passing through the airport. Once a traveller is registered under the FTI – TTP scheme, immigration can be cleared by just scanning their airline-issued boarding pass and passport along with authentication of biometrics at the arrival and departure points.
Indian and OCI travellers can sign up for FTI-TTP at the airport terminal when using the facility for the first time. The saved data can be later used every time during an international journey. The travellers need to submit their passport-size photograph, a scanned copy of the passport, proof of present address and a scanned copy of OCI card, if the traveller is an overseas citizen.
“The Modi government is committed to making international travel easier and hassle-free for our citizens and OCI cardholders. This new facility will allow the citizens and OCI cardholders registered under the program to circumvent the queues in the airports and avail themselves of immigration clearance instantly by merely scanning their passports and boarding passes at e-gates,” said the union minister while inaugurating FTI — TTP.
