New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Thursday told Parliament that as of October 30, 2023, 2,925 illegal agents have been notified through the e-Migrate portal and that many foreign countries do not provide information on illegal stay in their countries, except when they are under orders of deportation and travel nationality verification is required.
In reply to a question raised by MP Deepender Singh Hooda on the number of people migrating to other countries illegally from India and the reasons prompting such illegal immigration and the number of illegal immigrants each year since 2019, including 2023, MoS MEA V Muraleedharan said, “It has been noticed that several unscrupulous travel agencies are illegally involved in the business of manpower recruitment for overseas employment. Information about illegal agents is uploaded and updated regularly on the e-Migrate Portal. As of 30 October 2023, 2,925 illegal agents have been notified through the e-Migrate portal”.
Replying to another question on India’s ranking in terms of illegal immigration as compared to other countries, along with the major destination countries, the minister told Parliament that many foreign countries do not provide information on illegal stay in their countries, except when they are under orders of deportation and travel document/nationality verification is required.
“As such, our missions and posts do not have any reliable data on the number of Indians staying or working illegally in foreign countries. The procedure followed for the deportation of foreign nationals also varies from country to country. Some countries do not arrest the deportees instead keep them in detention/deportation centers until deportation. Moreover, the information about arrest/detention and deportation is not shared with Indian Missions and the deportation is done directly by the host Government if the deportee has a valid travel document”, MoS MEA said.
He informed that missions are contacted by the host governments only in such cases where nationality verification and issuance of an Emergency Certificate (EC) to the deportee is required. “Since all foreign countries do not share details of all Indian deportees, the exact number of Indians deported from foreign countries is not available with the Ministry of External Affairs. As part of the Government’s continuous efforts to raise awareness on safe & legal migration, a commemorative postal stamp ‘Surakshit Jaaye, Prashikshit Jaaye’ was released by the PM during the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas (PBD) Convention on 9th January 2023 at Indore”, he told the Parliament.
To create awareness among prospective workers about legal requirements and working and living conditions in the destination country, the Ministry organises Pre-Departure Orientation & Training (PDOT) to ensure that Indian migrant workers undertake safe migration and are aware of their rights and have access to GoI welfare schemes.
