Foreigners Tribunals: Understanding Their Expanded Powers

Swift summary

• Legislation Passed and Repealed: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) operationalized the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 in April, repealing older laws such as the Passport Act (1920), Registration of Foreigners Act (1939), Foreigners Act (1946), and Immigration Liability Act (2000).

• Key Updates in Rules:

– Bureau of Immigration (BOI) now legally authorized to address immigration fraud, coordinate with states for deportation or movement restrictions, maintain an immigration database.
– Biometric data collection for all foreigners is now mandatory under law.
– Educational institutes must report foreign students’ attendance and conduct to BOI.

• Foreigners Tribunals Expanded Nationwide:

– powers extended nationwide but function primarily in Assam; previously specific to NRC-related issues.
– Tribunals given judicial magistrate powers-to issue arrest warrants or detain individuals unable to prove their nationality. Capped members per Tribunal at three. Assam operationalizes 100 FTs post-NRC exclusions.

• Illegal Migrants Regulation Enhanced: Illegal migrants, those involved in crimes/espionage/subversive activities are subject to detention; local guarding forces empowered legislatively for border control along Bangladesh/Myanmar with biometric integration protocols.

• Exemptions Order Highlights:

– Nepalese/Bhutanese/Tibetan citizens exempt from provisions.
– Registered Sri Lankan tamil refugees who entered India up till January 9, 2015 exempted from immigration penalties.- Undocumented minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan slipping beyond visa expiry receive immunity till December-end similar LTVs path not extended Community-such-Srilanks–>

Indian Opinion Analysis

The passage of the Immigration and Foreigners Act signifies a consolidation of India’s legal framework governing migration and foreigner management into a modern structure tailored for current challenges. By streamlining regulatory processes across institutions like the Bureau of Immigration and enabling uniform rules on biometric data collection nationwide-a strengthening institutional ‘framework-national-security-possibly contributing tightening loopholes Also geostrategy