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
Sir..i m working in dubai in restaurant..i can get one month local leave so can i bring my wife dubai in visiting viza..and her passport processing now when she went passport office for making they told her ur imigration not possible but she accept..so her passport will come ecr or ecnr? If ecr she can come dubai?
@Sameer
Your wife won’t need ECNR status as she won’t be going for employment.
Sir…I happy for ecnr during my passport renewal..but now I notice that there is no seal but there is barcode in last page of my passport ..please confirm this is ecnr or not?
I renewed on Feb 2013
@Mehtab
There is no stamp put for ECNR. No stamp means non-ECR.
Dubai employer told me ECNR stamp required on your passport for employment visa. My question is if my passport issued in 2009 and second page is blank so plz let me know ECNR stamp required for my passport or not?
@Gaurav
Your passport is already with ECNR status by virtue of not having an ECR stamp.
Sir I’m really fed up with this ecnr, last week I just applied for passport, in that I have ticked for I need ecr, I don’t know what to tick there.. What if I had ticked to non ecr.. I’m having plan to work in uae or ksa or Malaysia.. Plz help me out..
@Shashi
You should have selected non-ECR and not ECR.
Now either you will have to get passport reissued or get emigration clearance from PoE when you are leaving for employment.
Dear Sir,
We applied for passport for my wife in April.
It went into hold status because of DOB mismatch between 10Marksheet n Birth Certificate. We mentioned Birth Certificate DOB in the online application as it was the correct one. We were told they will not consider 10Marksheet nd will put ECR on passport.
Now if my wife travels with me to US on L1/H1B Visa as a dependent, will there be any problems or difficulties.
If no problem can she work there having ECR status.
@Ankit
For USA, ECR/ECNR does not matter, so she can travel (and work there) even with ECR status passport.
hello sir,
am from chennai , my brother in law has got employment visa to work in dubai ,he has passport issued in 2012 with ecr stamp required seal in 2nd page. we have applied to get stamp through a agent on sep 8th 2014 they said we ill get back with in 10 days but till date we didnt … dono whom to contact, please guide us where should we contact and get it .. can u pleae help us.. if we go delhi directly can we get it immediately if yes how can we approach.
@Devi
There is no temporary ECNR stamp being put on passport now a days.
He can only get emigration clearance from PoE office.
yes now the passport is actually in poe for immigration clearance only but dono wen will they send it do u have any idea about how many days will it take to do this procedure
@Devi
They should not take more than 2-3 days.
It may be the agent who is delaying process.
thank u so much…. praying for geeting it before visa expiry date….
can i add graduation in passport ? i issued passport on 12+2 ,now i have completed MBA CAN I ADD ON PASSPORT
@Inzi
There is no qualification field in passport. So did not understood your question.
When I was applied Passport Qualification below SSC (ECR Status), Coz dont have 10th class certificate. for (Work Short term) VISA application (Qualification column)can I put My Degree? or any skilled certificate?
@John
If you want to get ECNR status now, you would need to apply for reissue of passport.
In that application, you can submit any of the mentioned eligibility proof: http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html
for reissue of passport, do i need to visit PSK like as New Passport? again fee? all docs??
@John
Yes, procedure is same.
for work visit visa (3 months), i need to get clearance from PoE? I need to work with client for 3 months in Riyadh!
@John
I think you don’t need emigration clearance from PoE as its not long term employment visa.
Thanx Mr. Pankaj!
Sir,
One more doubt!
I will be travelling on this Monday to Riyadh for 3 months(work visit), what documents i need carry with me.
Pls help me!
@John
You should carry valid visa, passport and return tickets.
To be on safer side, please carry any ECNR eligibility proof (http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html).
Thank u Mr. Pankaj, this site is really helping us!!
Dear sir, my passport was issued on February 2008 and I have ecr stamp on it.
I also have a USA
h1b work visa stamped. Do I have to cancel or get an ecnnr stamp before traveling to US?
@Thiru
For traveling to USA on any kind of visa, ECR/ECNR does not matter. So you can travel even with ECR status passport.
Hi Sir
my old passport gotECNR.now i have apply re-issue new in tht n’thng has mentions ECR or ECNR. how do i knw whether i m ECNR passport ?
@Arun
For new passports, No ECR stamp means passport is by default with ECNR status.
Sir my college providing placement in Malaysia
(Big Apple Donuts Company) My calling visa has came but now I got to know that my passport is ecr.Now college told me that no need worry they will handle it they are not making new passport I don’t know what they are doing with my passport. what to do
@Prathamesh
If passport is not being reissued, they would be getting emigration clearance from PoE office.
Sir, my maid’s ECR passport is taken in Tamil Nadu, but can i do her Emigration clearance in Kochi, Kerala for bringing her to Gulf. Has emigration clearance to be done in the same state PoE as Passport taken RPO office state ? Can an agent do the clearance without the person(here my maid) directly going to PoE office ?
@Vinu
I don’t think there should be any issue in getting clearance from a different state.
Not sure if same can be done without person going there.
Hi Pankaj, I have got a work visit visa to Saudi for 2 months and yesterday I came to know I have an Ecr in my passport..Is it OK if I don’t apply for ECRN because its a work visit visa..Please reply on urgent basis
@Joseph
For work visit visa, ECNR may not be required. You should have a valid visa and return tickets.
Sir,
Please I didn’t understand the previous comment.in my passport last page there is barcode.
This barcode is ECNR or not? I renewed last year.
Please clarify my query…Thank you very much
@Mehtab
Your passport is with ECNR status in case there is no ECR stamp.
Sir,
I received new passport with ECNR stamp but my visa is stamped on my old passport can I travel to Saudi Arabia with my two passports
Note:- my old passport is still valid up to November 2015.
Pls advice.
@Mohammed
Visa on old passport would still be valid and you can travel to Saudi.
You need to carry both passports.
Sir, Can i work 6months in Saudi Arabia without ECNR passport? Please help me.
@Michael
If you have ECR passport and going from India on employment visa to Saudi, you may be stopped at the airport.
I’m a seaman… My company based in Italy….I have a ecr status on my new passport…can I work der
@Gilbert
For Italy, ECR/ECNR does not matter, so you can work there.
Sir , I want to ask something k . I study till class 9 from local school and after that i have done IGNOU bpp course. I dont have class 10 mark sheet . can I get EGNR in my passport plz rply.
@MD Ali
10th class certificate would be required for ECNR.
There are other eligibility rules also, on basis of which you can get ECNR. Please check this page: http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html
My Passport is ECR. How can I change it to ECNR?
@Swamy
You need to apply for reissue of passport by submitting a non-ECR eligibility proof (http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/onlineHtml/NonEcrDocuments.html)
sir my brother sent visa from dubai . my passport have ecr. visa vailed 90 days. is retain Entry Permit new visit long time 90 days. my visa ecr clearince or not. profession employee retain .plz rply what to do where i can go for ask i stay in kolkata.
@Md Ali
You should get ECNR status on passport or emigration clearance from PoE office before traveling.