India – Exit Clearance Requirement Now Extended to All Indian Nationals
Effective immediately, all Indian nationals travelling to any of 18 “notified” countries for employment purposes are advised to register with the eMigrate portal of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at least 24 hours prior to departure.
The notified countries are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
According to an advisory issued by the MEA, this new requirement will be strictly enforced from January 1, 2019, from which date unregistered Indian nationals travelling from India to the notified countries with employment visas will not be allowed to depart.
Previously, the requirement to register with MEA was limited to Indian nationals with Emigration Clearance required (ECR) stamped in their passports.