India – Chennai Authorities Require Foreign Nationals to Be Registered Within 24 Hours of Arrival, and also on Departure
The Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Chennai, India now requires landlords and managers of apartments, hotels and other accommodation to complete the online Form C notification procedure within 24 hours of a foreign national’s arrival in Chennai, rather than within 14 days as at other FRROs around India.
Chennai FRRO is also the first and (so far) only FRRO to require notification of a foreign national’s departure or checkout, via the same online portal.
Form C Requirement
Any hotel, guest house, dharmashala, private house, university, hospital or institute which provides accommodation to foreign nationals must register their details with the FRRO using the online Form C portal. It is the responsibility of the foreign national’s employer to ensure that registration has been carried out.
Every foreign national visiting India on a student visa, research visa, medical visa or employment visa valid for more than 180 days must be registered with the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO) with jurisdiction over their place of stay, within 14 days of arrival, irrespective of the duration of stay.
Foreign nationals visiting India on other categories of long term visa (valid for more than 180 days) including business, entry and journalist visas, do not need to be registered with the concerned FRRO if the duration of stay does not exceed 180 days on a single visit.
In case a foreign national intends to stay for more than 180 days on a single visit they should be registered well before the expiry of 180 days.
Children below 16 years of age are exempt from registration.
Implementation
The Form C requirement for arrivals has so far been implemented at the FRROs and Foreigners’ Registration Offices (FROs) in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Gurgaon, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, and Pune among others.