Beginning January 1, 2019, Indians travelling to 18 countries on an employment visa, including Qatar, will be required to register themselves with an Indian government website, it was announced yesterday.

Those who are planning to travel should do this at least 24 hours before departure or risk being offloaded from the aircraft, reported The Peninsula.

The new rule will be applicable to all types of passport holders, irrespective of whether their emigration status is ‘ECR or ECNR.’

“All the Non Emigration Check Required (Non-ECR) passport holding Indian emigrants are hereby advised to note that in pursuance to Ministry of External Affairs' mandate to provide protection and welfare to the Indian emigrants abroad, it was decided by the Competent Authority that Non-ECR passport holding Indian emigrants, going for ‘overseas employment’ to 18 notified Countries, are required to register online through the website www.emigrate.gov.in,” an advisory posted by the Indian Embassy in Qatar said.

pic.twitter.com/tUw5W0PYpl

— India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) November 15, 2018

The countries that have been added are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

“The above provision has been made operational from December, 2017 on pilot basis and it is observed that the registration process is running smoothly,” added the note.

NEET (UG) - 2019
For further details and information, please refer to the attached annexure and also visit https://t.co/guJXm9viPC pic.twitter.com/bdXf2pEGrs

— India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) November 18, 2018

“Registration can be done by visiting the website of emigrate.gov.in and key in their details at the link ‘ECNR Registration’ and follow the steps to fill the Registration Form. On successful completion of registration, the emigrant would receive a confirmatory SMS/email.”

“The said registration of Non-ECR passport holders will be mandatory and required to be completed at least 24 hours prior to actual departure. Starting January 1, 2019, no Indian emigrant holding Non-ECR passport, would be allowed to go to these 18 ECR countries for employment, without prior registration in eMigrate, as a measure of extending protection and ensuring their welfare overseas,” it said.

“Off-loading of unregistered Non-ECR emigrants at the airports would be effected by the appropriate authority after January 15, 2019. For all other visa categories there’s no change in existing procedures.”