Guide: Fast Track Immigration Program in India (FTI-TTP)

The Government of India recently launched a new initiative called the “Fast Track Immigration – Trusted Traveller Program” (FTI-TTP) on 22 June 2024 to expedite the immigration process for pre-verified Indian nationals and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders. This program allows participants to enter and exit the Indian border through e-gates instead of visiting an immigration officer every time, thereby reducing human intervention and saving time. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

Initial Launch

The FTI-TTP will be launched at 21 major airports in the country. In the first phase, along with the Delhi airport, it will be launched at seven major airports: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Ahmedabad. 

Registration Process

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Bureau of Immigration, has developed the roadmap for the FTI-Trusted Traveller Programme.

• Step 1: Goto this link and register yourself (You’ll need Digital copy of your Passport Size Photo, first/last Passport copy & an address proof other than Aadhaar)
• Step 2: Once applied, wait for an approval email for next process. This might take few days to a week. If delayed you may email them, as they’re responding within a day.
• Step 3: Once you get the go-ahead email for Biometrics, provide your Biometrics while flying out of India next time (or) at other locations as communicated.
• Step 4: Once Biometrics is done, you may login to your account to check the status.

Immigration Process (e-gate)

After receiving the boarding pass, the passenger will proceed to the dedicated TTP e-gates installed at the Immigration area.

• The passenger will scan their passport and boarding pass at the first e-gate. If both are verified, the first e-gate will allow passage to the next e-gate.
• At the next e-gate, the passenger’s face will be scanned. If verified, the passenger’s emigration process is completed. 

The same procedure will be followed for arriving passengers at the Immigration Counter.

My Experience

Fortunately, I haven’t had to wait in the immigration queue for the past few years because I’ve been flying Business Class, which comes with access to Fast Track gates at most airports in metro cities. With some luck, the lines were almost empty during most of my arrivals as well, so I didn’t give it much importance initially.

However, I noticed that recent applications for FTI-TTP were getting cleared pretty quickly, and with an upcoming trip, I decided to apply.

A day after applying, I was asked to re-upload my photo, which was expected since my first upload was a bit blurry. I uploaded a high-quality photo, and then my application was approved within two days for the next step, which is biometrics.

After I went through immigration at Mumbai Airport this week (mid-July 2024) at the Fast-Track immigration counter, as I was flying Business Class, I asked the immigration officer to capture my biometrics for FTI-TTP.

While he was unsure of the procedure, I noticed a bold “FTI TTP Biometrics” sign on one of the counters (instead of “Immigration”), just next to the counter where I was standing.

I pointed this out to the immigration officer, who then quickly spoke with the officer responsible for that counter (as he was away at the time) and moved me to that counter. The officer was quite friendly and helpful, even though I couldn’t communicate with him in Hindi. Nice!

Once at the counter, it took less than 5 minutes to capture my biometrics. I logged into the portal the next day to see that the status is now updated to: GRANTED. Few days later, I also got the confirmation email that it’s all approved.

Note that this counter is located on the “far right” at Mumbai Airport and is accessible only to Business and First Class passengers.

I asked the officer how it works for others (economy passengers), and he said that they need to inform the immigration officer, who would then direct them to this counter after stamping their passports.

When will e-gates go live?

When I asked the officer who took my biometrics, he showed me the e-gates installation area and said that the installation is still in progress. He expects it to be ready in a month’s time at Mumbai International Airport.

I will be exiting BOM again in a month, so I should be able to report back on this by then.

Bottomline

It’s great that the Government of India is taking steps like the FTI Program to ease the movement of international travelers, similar to programs in most other developed countries, such as Global Entry in the USA. The process was overall easy and smooth, and I was able to complete it within a week, which is impressive.

That said, it would be wonderful if the government continues to focus on improving the power of Indian passports for visa approvals to developed countries, especially Europe, at least for legit, verifiable, tax-paying travellers to begin with.