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As per the Emigration Act, 1983, certain categories of Indian passport holders require to obtain “Emigration Clearance” from the office of Protector of Emigrants (POE) for going to certain countries.

            As per Emigration Act, “emigration” means going out of India of any Indian citizen with a view to taking up employment in a foreign country.

 All Indian passports are divided into two categories as follows :

     *   Passports with endorsement: “Emigration Check Required” (ECR)

    *   Passports with endorsement: “Emigration Check Not Required” (ECNR)

              The Indian passport holders who have the stamp of ECR, are required to get emigration clearance from Protector of Emigrants if going out to any country except Pakistan, Bangladesh, European countries (excluding CIS countries), all countries of North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and South Africa.

Indian passport holders who have the stamp of ECNR, do not require to take any emigration clearance from POE for going to any country.

Categories of Indians Entitled For ECNR Category:
Indians applying for passport are required to specify the desired category i.e. ECR or ECNR in the application form itself. The following Indians are entitled for ECNR stamp :

(a) Persons going abroad in managerial capacity in Hotel/Restaurants, Tea-Houses or other places of Public resort etc. possessing specialized Degrees in these fields.

(b) All Gazetted Government servants.

(c) All Income-Tax payers (including Agricultural Income-Tax Payers) in their individual capacity. Proof of assessment to Income-Tax and actual payment of Income-Tax for last three years is required and not merely payment of advance tax. However in most cases as an assessment order is not issued separately by the Income Tax Deptt., Income Tax Return which are stamped by Income Tax authority are accepted.

(d) All professional Degree holders, such as Doctors holding M.B.B.S. Degree in Ayurved or Homoeopathy, accredited Journalists, Engineers, Chartered Accountants, Cost Accountants, Lecturers, Teachers, Scientists, Advocates, etc.

(e) Spouses and dependent children up to the age of 24 years of category of persons listed from (b) to (d).

(f) All persons who have been staying abroad for more than three years (the period of the three years could be either at a stretch or broken), and spouses and children upto the age of 24 years of such persons.

(g) Seamen who are in possession of CDC or Sea Cadets.

Deck Cadets:

(1)  who have passed final examination of three years B.Sc. Nautical Sciences courses at T.S. Chanakya, Mumbai and

(2)  who have undergone three months Pre-Sea training at any of the Government approved Training Institues such as T.S. Chanakya, T.S. Rehman, T.S. Jawahar, MTI (SCI) and NIPM, Chennai, after production of identity cards issued by the    Shipping Master, Mumbai / Calcutta / Chennai.

(h) All holders of Diplomatic/Official Passports.

(i) Dependent children of parents whose passports are classified as ECNR in the case of such children ECNR classification to be restricted until they attain 24 years of age.

(j) Persons holding Permanent Immigration Visa, such as the Visas of UK, USA and Australia.

(k) Persons holding Graduate or higher Degrees. (If final certificate not available, provisional certificate plus mark sheet to be attached).(l) Persons holding 3 years Diploma equivalent to degree from recognized Institution like polytechnics.

(m) Nurses possessing qualifications recognized under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.

(n) All persons above the age of 60 years.

(o) No emigration clearance is required for persons possessing certificates of vocational training from Government/Government recognized institutions.

           If the passport of a person has been wrongly categorized as ECR, while he was entitled for ECNR category, he will have to get it rectified from the issuing Regional Passport Office (RPO) only before he undertakes a journey to the countries for which emigration clearance is required. The immigration officers at Airports are empowered to grant exemption only in emergency cases.

Addresses of Protector of Emigrants in  India |