The Commissioner of Police for Andhra Pradesh’s NTR District, SV Rajasekhar Babu, issued a strict circular in the early hours of 8 October requiring every hotel, guest house, hostel, hospital, ashram and educational institution in Vijayawada to file Form C (arrival/departure) data for foreign nationals—OCI holders included—within 24 hours via the FRRO/FRO online portal. The order cites sections of the new Immigration & Foreigners Act 2025, under which non-compliant accommodation providers face prosecution. While Form C filing has been obligatory for years, enforcement has historically been patchy; the commissioner warned that random audits will now check electronic logs against physical guest registers. For corporates that place expatriate staff or consultants in serviced apartments, the directive means landlords must obtain online credentials and may request passport copies at short notice. Mobility teams should verify that preferred hotels are Form-C compliant to avoid late-night police visits that occasionally occur when records are missing. The clarification that OCI cardholders are ‘foreign nationals’ for registration purposes also closes a common loophole used by property owners unfamiliar with the category’s hybrid status. State-level police forces across India are increasingly digitising foreigner-monitoring to feed the national Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) database. Vijayawada’s hard deadline is expected to become a template for other tier-two cities with rising inbound investment and medical-tourism traffic.
Source: The Hans India
