Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Fast Track Immigration Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Saturday. The initiative, designed for faster, smoother and safer immigration clearance, is likely to ease congestion at immigration counters.
Mr. Shah said the programme, to be launched at 21 major airports, will help Indians and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) coming from other countries. Other than New Delhi, the initiative was launched in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Ahmedabad airports in the first phase.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the programme will run on e-gates or automated border gates that will minimise human intervention in the immigration clearance process and will be implemented in two phases. In the first phase, Indian citizens and OCI cardholders will be covered, and foreign travellers will be included in the second phase. The programme intends to make international travel easy and secured by developing world-class immigration facilities through an accelerated immigration pathway for international travellers screened through automated gates.
The FTI-TTP will be implemented through an online portal and the Bureau of Immigration will be the nodal agency to fast-track immigration of various categories of travellers under this programme.
To enroll in the scheme, the applicant has to register online on the portal with details and documents. After necessary verification, a whitelist of ‘trusted travellers’ will be generated and fed for implementation through e-gates.
“Biometrics of the trusted traveller will be captured at the Foreigners Registration Office or at the time of passage of the registered traveller through the airport. The TTP registration will be valid till the validity of the passport or five years, whichever is earlier, and will be renewed thereafter,” the MHA said.
Under the process, as soon as the registered passenger reaches the e-gate, he/she will scan his/her boarding pass issued by the airlines at the e-gates to get the details of his/her flight. The passport will be scanned and biometric of the passenger will be authenticated at the e-gates. Once the identity of the passenger is established and biometric authentication is done, the e-gate will open and immigration clearance will be deemed to have been granted.
Published - June 22, 2024 07:33 pm IST
