Soon, no need for physical boarding cards at immigration

From Sept 1, flyers can use e-boarding passes at India’s immigration counters; physical passes won’t be stamped

NEW DELHI: Starting Sept 1, people flying in and out of India will no longer be required to provide a physical boarding card at the immigration counter. Travellers can show their e-boarding cards instead. This major change by Bureau of Immigration could pave the way for more seamless international travel once e-passports become more common.Senior FRRO (Delhi) Deepak Yadav’s communication says after immigration cleara-nce, the boarding pass is stamped by the immigration officer. “It has, however, been observed that this process causes inconvenience to passengers, and instances of errors in reading boarding passes due to improper or incorrect stamping, have also been reported,” he said.

The new measure will come into effect from Sept 1. “Physical boarding passes will continue to be accepted at the Immigration counters, however, these will not be stamped,” Yadav’s circular adds.Junior Union minister for external affairs KV Singh told Parliament this month, “The authentication of e-chip passport and its integration with IVFRT (immigration, visa, foreigners’ registration and tracking) application for utilisation across immigration posts at international airports in India is under process.”