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Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025
September 9 , 2025
17 hrs 0 min
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- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) exempted Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who entered India before January 9, 2015, from penal action under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.
- The exemption applies to refugees without valid passports, travel documents, or visas, covering their stay in and exit from India.
- Registered Sri Lankan Tamil refugees will not be treated as illegal migrants under the new Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025 notified on September 02.
- The 2025 Act penalises undocumented foreigners with a fine of ₹5 lakh or imprisonment for up to five years or both.
- Earlier in 2015, the Union government had waived visa fees and overstay penalties for Sri Lankan Tamils returning voluntarily.
- The Centre also exempted six minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2024.
- These six communities include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians facing religious persecution or fear of it.
- The exemption enables them to apply for long-term visas (LTV), a required step before applying for Indian citizenship.
- The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, allows citizenship to these communities only if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
- The exemption does not extend the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) cut-off date beyond December 31, 2014.
- According to officials, the exemption prevents criminal proceedings against the undocumented migrants and facilitates their stay.
- The Citizenship Act, 1955, allows naturalisation after 11 years of residence, while the CAA reduces this to 5 years for eligible communities.
- The exemption order applies to persons who entered without valid documents or whose documents have expired.
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