The Centre has notified new Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs) in Bhubaneswar, Kohima and Agartala, bringing the total number of FRRO offices in India to 20 and giving Odisha’s capital a dedicated authority for foreigner registration and immigration-related services.
The Union Home Ministry said the expansion is intended to support the growing number of foreigners visiting India for tourism, medical treatment and education. The move also follows a direction from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to establish an FRRO in every state capital.
Before the notification, Bhubaneswar was under the jurisdiction of the FRRO in Hyderabad. Kohima and Agartala were administered by the FRRO in Kolkata. The new arrangement places the three state capitals within the direct operating network of the newly notified regional offices.
The Centre said five other FRROs had already started working since 2025 in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Aizawl, Amravati and Guwahati. With the addition of Bhubaneswar, Kohima and Agartala, the network now includes offices in Ahmedabad, Amravati, Amritsar, Aizawl, Agartala, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Chandigarh, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kohima, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai and Trivandrum.
FRROs handle administrative and compliance matters concerning foreign nationals staying in India. Their responsibilities include monitoring compliance with immigration laws, dealing with cases of overstaying and visa violations, and coordinating legal action or penalties when required. The offices also support the processing and regulation of legitimate foreign travel and stays.
The expansion comes alongside the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which consolidated four earlier laws dealing with immigration and foreign nationals into a single statutory framework. According to the government statement, the Act provides a unified system for regulating the entry, stay, movement and exit of foreign nationals in India.
Under the new framework, the Bureau of Immigration carries out the main immigration functions and is assisted by Foreigners Regional Registration Officers authorised by the Central Government. The distribution of FRRO offices across state capitals is therefore intended to strengthen the administrative link between national immigration authorities and local jurisdictions.
The Centre said it is considering further expansion of the FRRO network in Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya. No timeline for notifying offices in these states was specified in the statement.
