Emigration check not required (ECNR) stamp is not required, if one is not travelling for employment purposes.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Emigration Policy Division) have allowed ECR passport holders travelling abroad for purposes others than employment to leave the country on production of valid passport, valid visa and return ticket at the immigration counters at international airports in India w.e.f. 1st October 2007.
ECNR is only required if you are travelling to any of the below 17 countries for employment:
United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand and Iraq.
For all passports issued before January 2007, a blank second page in the passport means your passport is endorsed with ECR and you need to get emigration clearance if you are travelling to any of the above 18 countries for employment.
For all passports issued after January 2007, a “Blank” page 2 on your passport is deemed to have been ECNR endorsed. If you don’t fit into ECNR eligibility criteria, and Emigration Check is Required, there will be an endorsement in the passport regarding ECR.
Emigration clearance required (ECR)
Eligibility for ECNR status:
The following applicants are eligible for Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) status:
- Gazetted Government servants, their spouses and dependent children
- Holders of Diplomatic/official Passports
- Persons having educational qualifications of matriculation and above
- Persons above the age of 50 years
- Children up to the age of 18 years. (For re-issue of passport, after they attain the age of 18 years, documents to proof their non-ECR category has to be submitted, else ECR stamping will be done)
- Income-Tax payers (including Agricultural Income-Tax payees) in their individual capacity, their spouses and dependent children below the age 18 years.
- Persons possessing two years diploma from any institute recognized by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) or State Council of Vocational Training (SCVT), or persons holding three years diploma/equivalent degree from institutions, such as Polytechnics recognized by the Central/State Governments of India
- Nurses possessing qualifications recognized under the Indian Nursing Council Act. 1947
- All professional Degree holders , their spouses and dependent children. Examples of professional degree holders are Doctors holding MBBS degree or equivalent degree in AYURVED or HOMEOPATHY, accredited Journalists, Engineers, Chartered Accountants, Cost Accountants, Lecturers, Teachers, Scientists, Advocates, etc
- All persons who have been staying abroad for more than three years (the period of three years could be either in one stretch or broken) and their spouses
- Seamen who are in possession of Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC), or Sea Cadets and Deck Cadets
a. who have passed the final examination of three years B.Sc. Nautical Sciences courses at T.S. Chanakya, Mumbai and b. who have undergone three months pre-sea training at any of the Government approved training institutes, 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 at Mumbai/Kolkata/Chennai - Persons holding Permanent Immigration Visa, such as the visas of UK, USA and Australia.
How to apply for ECNR stamping
If and only if you are travelling to any of the below countries for employment, you need to get ECNR stamp, if you does not have already:
United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand and Iraq.
You have either to get the entire ECR stamp deleted, or if your are not eligible (categories listed above), you may get a temporary Emigration Suspension before leaving India. If the applicant does not have Non-ECR status then All such ECR passport holders need to obtain Emigration Clearance Certificate from the Protector-General of Emigrants, Ministry of Overseas India Affairs.
Documents required for ECNR (non-ECR) status:
All eligibility documents list can be seen here: Non-ECR documents list
Protector of Emigrants (PoE) offices for Emigration clearance:
The POE offices in India are situated at the following places:
- Protector of Emigrant office New Delhi
Jaisalmar House, Canteen Block, Man Singh Road,
New Delhi
Tel No. 011-2338 2472 - Protector of Emigrant office Mumbai
Building “E” Khira Nagar, S.V. Road, Santacruz (West),
Mumbai-400 054
Tel No. 022-2614 7393 - Protector of Emigrant office Kolkata
Room No. 116 A Wing, 3rd MSO Building, DF Block,
Salt Lake, Kolkata-700 064
Tel No. 033-2334 3407 - Protector of Emigrant office Chennai
Tamil Nadu Housing Board Complex, Ashok Nagar,
Chennai-600 083
Tel No. 044-2489 1337 - Protector of Emigrant office Hyderabad
8th Floor, Chandra Vihar Complex, Opp. Exhibition Ground,
M.J. Road, Hyderabad. - Protector of Emigrant office Trivandrum
Suganth, 24/846 (I), Thycaud,
Trivandrum-695 014
Tel No. 0471-2324835 - Protector of Emigrant office Chandigarh
Kendriya Sadan, 5th Block, Ground Floor,
Sector-9-A, Chandigarh
Tel No. 0172-2741790 - Protector of Emigrant office Cochin
3RD Floor Putherickal Building, Market Road, Ernakulam.
Kerala – 682035
Tel. No. 0484-2360187 - Protector of Emigrant office Jaipur
Hall No.3, RIICO CFC Building, Sitapura Industrial Area, Sitapura,
Jaipur-302022
Documents required for emigration clearance at PoE office:
- Passport (valid at least for six months)
- Valid Employment Visa
- Contract Duly Signed by Foreign Employer
- Valid Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Policy 2006
- Affidavit from Candidate Declaring Genuineness of Documents
Hi Pankaj Batraji,
I am having a passport issued on April 2007 it is not with any stamps ECR or ECNR now i got a employment in Saudi they are asking for ECNR clearance how can i get it now what are the solutions is it better to go with reissue if i got a reissued is it with ECNR clearance automatically or again i need to go to any emigration officer to get ECNR clearance.
Thanks in Advance ji.
@Krishna
As passport does not have ECR stamp, its by default with ECNR status
So you don’t need to get ECNR again now.
Hello Sir, thanks for your guidance
I have one more query I have renew my passport bcz of i want to delet ECR status on my passport.
So passport seva officer told me that they will stamp my current passport as cancelled passport.
And I submitted my password Xerox copy to RTO for LLR and they said they need my original passport to verify at the time of LL test.
So if there will be cancellation stamp on my passport then can RTO officer can accept it
or another problem will occure
@Prathamesh
You can tell RTO about new passport being applied, so they would accept cancelled passport too.
This is haji mohamed i have Dubai employment visa for sales man category. i have not sslc certificate how to clear ECR. please replay
@Haji
Please check this page, if you fall into any of the other eligibility criteria: http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html
If not, you would need to get emigration clearance from PoE office.
I m leaving to UAE FOR employment purpose n dey have asked me for ECNR formality to be completed how to I gt it done n hw lng doss it tk
@Shamina
If your passport has ECR status, then only you need to worry.
In that case you can get ECNR status by getting your passport reissued by submitting 10th class certificate (or any other eligibility document: http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html)
Dear sir,
i got 1 employment visa from dubai. by online. they are asking ECNR clearance stamp in passport.
i don’t have any ECR stamp in my passport. so for me also its by default with ECNR status. So i don’t want to get ECNR again now??? please reply me sir. its much important for me.
@Abdul
If your passport does not have ECR stamp, its by default with ECNR status.
You need not to worry about it now.
Hi i bought passport in2009 i m trvlng to UAE , is ECNR stamp required on my passport
@Lakshman
If you are traveling for employment and your passport has ECR stamp, then you would need to get ECNR status before traveling.
Thank you very much sir.
I have ecr on my passport and i came saudi by taking poe clearance,what will be the validity of poe arance.Shall i re issue my passport immediately or shall i wait upto the passport expiry.
@Pavan
In case you go back to India and your employer is changed, then you need to get this clearance again.
shal i take new passport of ECNR type here(Riyadh) itself .
@Pavan
Yes, you should get that in case you are eligible for it.
Sir, in the above case if I can go to India on vacation(with the same employer) In that case whether it is required for me to take PoE clearance again
Thanks a lot, Pankaj Sir
Hello sir, I have worked for 6 years in Libya but bhubaneswar passport office is refusing to delete ECR from my passport. As I have a handwritten passport and now I want to apply for new one.please advice. I don’t have 10th certificate.
@Rama
As per eligibility rules (http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html), All persons who have been staying abroad for more than three years (the period of three years could be either in one stretch or broken) are eligible for ECNR.
So you need to provide passport copies showing entry and exit dates to prove this eligibility.
I hv ECR on my passport, I came to UAE on a tourist visa and later got an employment visa, I did not have to ho to India, now its time for my annual leave, So do i need to get immigration clearance done before I return back. Or is immigration not required if an employment visa is already endorsed on the passport
@Ahmed
You would need ECNR status now before leaving India as you leaving for employment.
Hello sir, we stay in the uae and have got a indian maid having ecr status.we had directly employed her in the UAE.please advise if she travels to India could she be denied back travel to Dubai even if she holds a valid visa on the grounds that appropriate formalities were not completed at the POE before taking up the employment with us.
@Anju
As she now has employment visa, she would need ECNR status before leaving India.
So in case she tries to travel with ECR status, she would be denied.
Dear Sir,
Please advise if the ECNR process can be completed in UAE or has to be done in India. and what is the process for the same. Many thanks!
@Anju
For ECNR, you need to get passport reissued and it can be done from UAE also.
Sir.
I am working in Saudi Arabia and came to India for Vacation suddenly my company call me and inform me go to Dubai for office work and after two week return to Saudi.
Company issue me visit visa and flight ticket .
Kindly please let me know I required Ecnr stamping on my passport? or travel without any stamping.
Regards
Faiz
Company issue me UAE visa + flight ticket.
Now the question is visa is short termvisit visa and in my passport in nothing mention ECNR or ECR .
So I required Ecnr not to worried
@Faiz
For visit visa, you won’t need ECNR status.
Plus as your passport does not have ECR stamp, your passport is already with ECNR status.
Dear Sir,
Please tell me that what documents are required for passport for a state govt. employee (Govt. Teacher). I shall be thankful to you for this.
@Sandeep
In addition to date of birth and address proof, you would be required to submit a No Objection Certificate (NOC) (as per Annexure M).
Sir,
How can I get immigration clearance done if I am already in UAE on employment visa on an ECR passport as I arrived here on visit and later got employment.
I will be travelling to India soon for one month.
@Samir
There is no need of ECNR while going back to India. But when you travel back from India, ECNR status would be needed.
So you can get passport reissued in India for ECNR or get emigration clearance from PoE office before leaving India.
Hello Pankaj Sir,
Do we need to get our SSC certificate attested before applying for ECNR
@Samir
They only require self attested copy. Plus they would verify original copy at the time of application.
iam applying for a new passport just to travel abroad . which option would i slect ecr or ecnr ..
@Khalif
If you are eligible for ECNR, you should apply in ECNR category only. It does not cost anything extra, but in future if you need to travel to any of the listed countries for job, it would save lots of issues.
sir,
what is the deferance ecnr or ecr psssport and how many days need for immigration
@Dhananjay
In case you need to travel to any of the listed countries for employment, you would need ECNR status or emigration clearance from PoE office. Otherwise there is no need of ECNR.
Hello Sir, i got a Job Offer in Malaysia i have completed Diploma in Mechanical & i got passport on 2011. I am working for a MNC in Bangalore…. Do i need to get NON ECR in my Passport?
@Ram
In case your passport has ECR stamp, then you would need to get passport reissued for ECNR.
Else, there is nothing to do.
can we travel to uae with new passport having electronic visa having old passport number in hand
@Sunil
Yes, you can travel. It should not be an issue.