Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025
Why it Matters?
The Union Home Ministry’s Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025, empowers Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) with first-class magistrate powers to issue arrest warrants, detain, and deport illegal migrants. While FTs operate mainly in Assam post-NRC, the order bars foreign employment in sensitive sectors and exempts Nepalese, Bhutanese, Tibetans, and Sri Lankans.
What You Should Know?
The Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025, empowers Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) with enhanced legal authority to address unauthorized foreign nationals in India.
This order, effective from September 1, 2025, replaces the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964.
FTs are now vested with the authority of a first-class judicial magistrate.
They can issue arrest warrants and detain individuals in designated holding centres if their nationality is disputed and they fail to appear when summoned.
The order also outlines procedures for the deportation of unauthorized foreign nationals.
Foreign Tribunals
Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) are quasi-judicial bodies.
They are established to determine whether an individual residing in India is a "foreigner" under the Foreigners Act, 1946.
These tribunals were created to address concerns about unauthorized immigration, particularly in Assam, and to provide a legal mechanism for verifying citizenship status.
The Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, issued by the Central Government under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, empowers authorities to refer cases of suspected foreigners to these tribunals.
FTs have been predominantly operational in Assam due to its unique demographic and geopolitical challenges.