NEW DELHI: Beginning September 1, international travellers will benefit from quicker immigration clearance at Indian airports, with the Bureau of Immigration, an agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs, discontinuing the stamping of boarding passes for outbound international passengers. E-boarding passes will be accepted from then on.
Urging passengers to go digital from September 1, the bureau said in an advisory, “International travellers can use e-boarding passes displayed on their smartphones during immigration clearance. Physical boarding passes will also continue to be accepted. Boarding passes will no longer be stamped during immigration clearance.”
The move means less paper, fewer steps and smoother travel, it added.
Under the existing system, an immigration officer at the ‘Departures’ section of the airport affixes an immigration stamp to the boarding pass.
Feedback received by the Immigration office revealed that the mandatory physical pass was inconveniencing international flyers, an official said.
Therefore, it was decided that the process could be ended, he added. Though physical passes will continue to be accepted after the deadline, they will not need to be stamped.
The advisory added that travellers enrolled under the Fast Track Immigration – Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP), which uses biometrics and enables immigration clearance in under 20 seconds, can also use e-passes at the e-gates.
In some instances, boarding passes were also incorrectly read due to improper stamping. The move is another step towards digitisation by doing away with paper.
A directive in this connection has been issued by the Bureau of Immigration to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and airports with international operations across the country.
India has 36 airports carrying out international operations. During the financial year 2026-27 (April to July), these airports handled a total of 2,41,92,052 international passengers.
Most countries globally have now given up stamping travel documents, with India becoming the latest to join the list.
