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
@ Pankaj,
Thanks for reply,
1 more thing , is police verfication required for ECR correction. ?
@Saurabh
If passport is issued recently and there is no address change, then police verification may not be needed.
How i can check my passport is valid for travel and not stoped me at airport may be police not be a send pv report till now after one month have any link for it?
@Dipesh
I am not really sure about link for checking police verification status.
But you may try on this page: http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/statusTracker/trackStatusInpNew
Hi Pankaj,
my passport was issued on 29sept2006, i could not find anything ECR or ECNR
pls let me know do i need to get ECNR stamp
thanks in advance
sudhakar
@Sudhakar
If ECR stamp is not present then its by default with ECNR status.
WILL MY PASSPORT NUMBER CHANGE IF I GO FOR ECNR STATUS AS MY PASSPORT WAS ISSUED RECENTLY BUT WITH ECR STAMPED NOW I WANT TO CHANGE TO ECNR STATUS WILL MY PASSPORT NUMBER CHANGE AGAIN FOR REISSUING OF PASSPORT FOR ECNR STATUS? PLEASE HELP
Further one freind of mine has not got his certificate to proof for ecnr status will he get ecr when he goes for appointment to passport seva kendra please help.
@Hasmukh
A new passport would be issued for ECNR, so passport number would change.
If no proof for ECNR eligibility is submitted, ECR would be issued for your friend.
@ Pankaj.
Need your help: I am having ECR stamping on my passport , i need to remove that.
problem is where i should apply .
Home town : UP
working location : 2009- June’12 PUNE(MH)(infy)
current loc : 4 months in Mumbai.(wipro)
So from which location i should apply for ECNR….
i am confuse .. how will police verification be done…
Please suggest needful..
@Saurabh
Ideally you should mention present address in passport application, but due to this short tenure, you may not get a good verification at this address.
It would be better to apply from hometown and provide permanent and current address that only. Try to be present when police verification guys comes at your home.
@ Pankaj,
1 of my frnd sid same thing, but the passport officer said as u’r working in IT company which is having no branch over there(home town) so how can you work over there.
Same case with me also, in my home town there is no office is dere or u can say not even near by.
Please suggest me.. 🙁
@Saurabh
In that case, you should apply with current address only and try to coordinate with police verification.
If you living on rent, ask your landlord or neighbors too to cooperate in case verification questions are asked from them too.
If a person has ECNR stamp in the passport ,then can he work in other countries like USA etc?? or will he have to get an ECR stamp to work in countries like USA germany etc (other than those 17 countries)
@Suresh
For other than listed 17 countries, ECNR is not required and whether a person has ECR or ECNR it does not matter.
so it is better to get an ecnr stamp in the passport if we are not sure where we’ll b working in the future bcoz otherwise we’ll have to make a new pp with ecnr if we have to work in those 17 countries???
@Suresh
Yes, you should get ECNR status in case you are eligible for it. It does not cost anything extra if applied while applying for new passport/reissue.
yup i m applying for a new passport and i am a graduate…
thnx a lot for ur prompt reply
Pankaj Sir can i chack in sp office record they send my police verification report and they send report online or by post plz ansr. Thanks a lot of you
@Dipesh
Now all police verification reports are sent through internet.
If you can get it checked from SP office, you may do so.
Passport office why reissude the passport before police verification we can not travel on this passport what we do with reissude passport?
@Dipesh
They issue passport faster without waiting for police verification so that people waiting to get their visa/air tickets can complete their processing as soon as passport arrives.
@ Pankaj
So now day how much time it takes for post verification.
as reports are send by internet.. so approximately time for this process…
@Saurabh
Can’t really estimate time taken for police verification.
It would depend on multiple factors like efficiency of local police station, their existing workload etc.
But it should be done by 10-15 days max.
@ Pankaj.
Thats is really very effective.
As u mentioned without police verification we can’t travel .
so is it for complete police verification .
i measn :
1. : Verification for current location (eg :Mumbai)
2: Previous city verification (if current location is less than 1 year residence) (eg :Pune)
3: Permanent address. eg (Allahabad UP)
So do we have to wait for all 3 verification.
& do i have to present at all 3 location’s police station for verification.?
@Saurabh
I think, verification at all three locations should be completed before travel.
You need not to be present at all locations. You need to be there at current location mentioned in passport application.
hi pankaj i need ur help to sort out my problem for me in my passport ecnr page is blank and i want to go mauritius for work,wat required to go to there for work allready recieved work permit and resident permit every thing , from here me i under stand blank page means already have ecnr in passport ,pls help me asap thanks francis
@Francis
Your passport already has ECNR status because of not having an ECR stamp.
Second, for traveling to Mauritius ECNR/ECR does not matter.
Dear pankaj,
i am planning to go to canada this december for studies.
i received my passport last week and it has a ECR printed on it,do i need to change it to ECNR ?
@Mohiv
For Canada, ECNR is not required so you need not to get ECNR.
Where is the ecr stamp in passport second page or last page in new passport plz. Clear sir thanks.
@Dipesh
Generally its on second page, but some people have reported to have ECR on last page too.
So please check all pages.
Hi Pankaj,
In my passport on second page, it was written like ECR except for Bangladesh, all countries in Europe (excluding CIS) etc…
I may get a chance to travel to UK, London in next month. So, is there anything to do with ECR or ECNR? I am really confused with these. pls advice
Thanks.
@Venky
You need not to do anything regarding ECR/ECNR as for UK, Emigration check is not required.
For earlier question on ECR (for UK), travel purpose is Job.
Any suggestions/clarifications are much appreciated.
Thanks for your prompt reply.
hi pankaj, i am little bit confused, i am going Dubai(UAE) for the job purpose i have a blank page(page.2) what should i need to do. please help me out.
@Ayaz
You need not to get ECNR stamp/status as you already have that status because of not having ECR stamp.
Kindly advise:
My passport is valid till 2017 but it endorsed with emigration check required.
for emigration clearance; I’m going to apply for re-issue of passport with the passport office but in the application there is only following reasons are showed for re-issuance, there is no reason specify to re-issue passport due to Emigration clearance
If re-issue, specify reason(s) *
1) Validity Expired within 3 years/Due to Expire
2) Exhaustion of Pages
3) Validity Expired more than 3 years ago
4) Lost Passport
5) Change in Existing Personal Particulars
6) Damaged Passport
Kindly advise which i have to choose for ECNR purpose.
thanks
@Rajesh
You will have to select – “Change in Existing Personal Particulars”. Under this Select: “Delete ECR”
If you don’t have latest form, please download it from this page: http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/downloadEFormStatic
thanks,
Please advise one thing more, that I have PAN Card, ITR + Receipt of Tax Paid for ECNR. Is that sufficient or need any other document
@Rajesh
In case you are going with ITR proofs, below is required
i) Proof of assessment of income tax and actual payment of income tax for last one year
OR
ii) Income Tax return statement (with income tax being paid by the applicant) for last one year that is stamped by income tax authorities and a copy of the PAN card
Note: i) Proof of payment of advance tax is not sufficient. You need to submit additional documents as specified above
ii) Applicants submitting NILL income tax return statement are not eligible.
hello sir,
i am going to dubai for my job,do i need to get ecnr stamp on passport..there on the 2nd page ,there is nothing ,it’s blank..what do i need to do please advise me.i got my passsport issued on 15/02/2011.please reply soon
thank you
@Aditya
As your passport does not have ECR stamp (blank second page), that means your passport is already with ECNR status. So you don’t need to get ECNR stamp again.
then why it is written that candidate travelling to 18 specific countries need to get ECNR stamp from riginol passport office.please clarify
ECNR is only required if you are traveling to any of the below 17 countries for job/business:
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.
THIS HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN YOUR WEBSITE THATS WHY I AM CONFUSED,PLEASE HELP ME SIR
@Aditya
This statement is valid for people with ECR status on passport.
Mr.Batra
I have applied for passport reissue and i have also asked for ecnr status but i only have a pan card at the moment will i get ecr status or will i get ecnr stamped though i know what all documents are needed for ecnr but i am carrying at the moment only my pan card will i get ecnr status or ecr status by the passport seva kendra kolkata.Please help as i have ticked for ecnr category .thank you.
@Mangal
You would need to carry relevant documents from list on this page: http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html