Foreigner Registration Office (FRO) Bangalore elevated to full FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) status

Foreigner Registration Office (FRO) Bangalore has been elevated to FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) status with effect from 11 January, 2010. In view of increased number of foreign workers and business persons traveling to Bangalore every year, the government of India elevated the status of the Bangalore FRO to full FRRO.

In India, the FROs are the smaller offices within the district Police offices to provide services to foreigners within their jurisdiction. They deal with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at New Delhi through the State Home departments located in the capitals of various states.

The FRROs are bigger offices working mostly in the metropolitan areas and report directly to the Ministry of Home Affairs without the intervention of the State Home departments. The FRROs in India are located at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata Amritsar and now at Bangalore.

In practical terms, it will not make much difference for the foreigners applying for the services like registration, extensions and other miscellaneous services at the Bangalore FRRO. The new timings for filing the applications are from 9:30 to 13:00. Under the old timings, the applications could be filed from 10:30 till 17:00 in the evening. So the applicants can expect longer queues at the window. However, the FRRO is expected to be shifted to a new bigger facility (probably at Indira Nagar in Bangalore) and get additional staff from the month of March and that should greatly reduce the waiting times for the applicants to submit their applications.

Regarding the procedural part, the FRRO will deal directly with the MHA at New Delhi. This will provide for faster turn around times for the applications which require approval from MHA. For example, earlier, an application for the first extension of an employment or Business Visa, filed at FRO Bangalore was sent to State Registration office at Police headquarters and from there it was forwarded to the State Home Department (located at Vidhan Soudha, Bangalore) which forwarded it to the MHA at New Delhi. Now, the FRRO Bangalore will directly send all such applications to the MHA and act directly after receiving appropriate instructions from the MHA, New Delhi.

In the long run, it is expected that FRRO Bangalore will streamline the procedures and provide better services and faster turnaround times for the foreigners applying for various services at the FRRO Bangalore.