Overstay of Foreigners

The number of visas issued under various categories to Pakistan and Bangladesh nationals during the years 2014 and 2015 are as follows:

Year	Pakistan	Bangladesh
2014	94,993	6,52,919
2015	77,543	7,51,044

            Law enforcing agencies maintain a vigil to intercept the foreigners overstaying in India. FRROs under Bureau of Immigration are instructed to conduct special drives for identification of overstaying foreigners in their jurisdiction and initiate necessary action for deportation. 

            The number of foreign nationals staying illegally are not available.  However, number of foreigners convicted under Foreigners Act during the last three years are as follows:

Year	Foreigners convicted*
2014	1,845
2015	1,442
2016	2,476

* The data in this regard is available upto 2016.

            Law and order is a State subject. No information is available centrally on the expenditure incurred on keeping   such   people in custody.

            Central Government is vested with powers to deport a foreign national illegally staying in the country under Section 3(2)(c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946. These powers to identify, detect and deport illegally staying foreign nationals have also been delegated to the State Govts/UT Administrations. Detection and deportation of such over-staying foreign nationals is a continuous process.  In genuine cases, where the overstay is unintentional or because of ignorance or under compelling circumstances, the period of overstay is regularized and visa extension fee is charged for the overstay period.  Where the overstay is found to be intentional, the foreigner is served with Leave India Notice and penalty/ visa fee for the period of overstay is charged as per instructions.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to question by Shri Vishnu Dayal Ram, Shri Bharat Singh and Shri Rakesh Singh in the Lok Sabha today (August 8, 2017).

Courtesy: pib.nic.in