ABSTRACT
Immigration and visa services are rendered to safeguard the borders from illegal immigrants while facilitating the tourism and economy of the country. For this, countries are leveraging technology to improve efficiency and enable efficient dissemination of information regarding immigration and visa requirements, processes, and timelines so that potential travelers seeking services are not deterred from the outset. Modernization of immigration and visa services was initiated in 1993 at Delhi Airport. The Ministry of Home Affairs came up with the Mission Mode Project in 2010 for transforming Indian immigration and visa services to deliver a secure, integrated service delivery framework that facilitates easy mobility of legitimate travelers while strengthening the security of Indian borders. The introduction of a centralized visa issuance system and various other flagship programs, such as e-Visa, e-FRRO, Visa on Arrival, Automatic Border Control Systems, and biometrics-based authentication, has made Indian immigration and visa services more competitive among other advanced nations. This chapter highlights the transformational journey of Indian immigration and visa services in the previous decade through the intervention of information technology and identifies further scope for easing Indian immigration and visa services while strengthening security. It also focuses on the issues and challenges faced by immigration authorities in developing and implementing automated systems and lists their impacts.
