Synopsis

Physical boarding passes will no longer require stamping at Indian airports. Passengers must present e-boarding passes on smartphones for immigration clearance. This change aims to reduce passenger inconvenience and reported stamping errors. The Bureau of Immigration has issued this directive to airport authorities nationwide. Physical boarding passes will still be accepted but will not be stamped.

New Delhi: Passengers flying out of Indian airports will no longer be required to carry a physical boarding pass as immigration authorities have decided to do away with the stamping of this document from September 1, officials said on Saturday.



Instead, passengers travelling abroad will have to produce an e-boarding pass on their smartphones for immigration clearance, the officials told PTI.



The Bureau of Immigration (BOI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently communicated the official directive to airport authorities after the agency found that the physical stamping of boarding passes for immigration purposes was causing "inconvenience" to passengers.

Instances of errors in reading boarding passes due to "improper or incorrect" stamping were also being reported and, hence, it was decided to do away with this procedure, the officials said.



"The matter has been examined by the BOI and it has now been decided to do away with the mandatory requirement of physical boarding passes and the stamping of boarding passes at immigration counters at all international airports in the country," the officials said quoting the directive.



They, however, said physical boarding passes will continue to be accepted but will not be stamped by the immigration authorities from September 1.



Security officials added that boarding passes of international travellers were also not being stamped by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) during individual frisking and they were supposed to be only produced for clearance by immigration authorities.



The boarding pass stamping by CISF for both domestic and international passengers was stopped many years ago, they added.



The officials said a pilot project to do away with the stamping of the immigration entry and exit for Indian passport holders is also planned to be done away with after a pilot exercise in this context is completed. The measure is soon expected to be operationalised across Indian airports, they said.

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