In one of the largest immigration-enforcement drives mounted by an Indian city this year, Hyderabad Police on 4 October confirmed that a month-long joint operation with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has identified 49 foreign nationals who had overstayed their visas, with 12 already deported. The sweep covered hotels, hostels, private apartments and hospital facilitation centres across seven police-station limits after intelligence suggested a spike in fraudulent visa extensions and illegal employment rings. According to Commissioner C.V. Anand’s press note, special teams from the police Special Branch – Foreigners Monitoring Cell cross-checked FRRO arrival data against accommodation records and Aadhaar-linked mobile connections. Many of the violators had first entered on student or medical-attendant visas but drifted into cash-only translator jobs and—in a handful of cases—prostitution and petty narcotics distribution. One Kenyan woman allegedly organised a small prostitution network, while a South-Sudanese trio tested positive for cannabis. The crackdown is significant because Hyderabad’s private healthcare industry actively markets “medical tourism” packages; hospital intermediaries are often former foreign students who overstay after graduation. Police say these unregulated fixers earn up to 15 percent commissions on hospital bills, creating both tax-compliance and patient-safety risks. Landlords and hotel managers were also put on notice: failure to file mandatory Form C within 24 hours now attracts fines of ₹50,000–₹1 lakh and possible jail under Section 23(b) of the Immigration & Foreigners Act 2025. For multinational employers the message is clear: keep close tabs on expatriate staff and insist that relocation vendors update FRRO portals in real time. Corporates with shared-service centres in Hyderabad should audit their vendor networks—especially translation and patient-liaison services—to ensure no undocumented intermediaries are used. The police have hinted that follow-up inspections will become a quarterly fixture and may be replicated in Bengaluru and Chennai, two other medical-tourism hubs.
Source: Republic World
