Differentiated Passports

Ministry of External Affairs declared to issue new type of passports to ECR category that will have jackets of orange colors, thus, replacing the traditional blue colour for them. They will be issued to migrant workers to travel to some gulf and South Asian Countries.

Types of Passports currently issued?

Following are the different types of passports issued to different categories of people:

• Official Passport–It has a jacket of white colour and issued to government officials.
• Diplomatic Passport-It has a jacket of maroon colour and is issued to Indian diplomats and top rank officials (joint secretary and above).
• Regular Passport-Barring above two categories all Indian citizens are issued navy blue passports. The blue passport has two categories – one that requires emigration check and one that does not.

What is an ‘orange’ passport?

Citizens who fall under the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category will be issued passports with orange jackets, instead of the dark blue that has so far been the colour of all passports under the ECR and non-ECR categories.

Difference between ECR and non-ECR category?

As per the Emigration Act, 1983, certain categories of Indian passport holders require obtaining an ‘Emigration Clearance’ from the office of the Protector of Emigrants (POE) for going to certain countries. Thus, passports are either endorsed with an ‘Emigration Check Required (ECR)’ status or with ‘Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR)’ status.

ECR stands for ‘Emigration check required’. It is required when an Indian citizen leaves the country with the ai of taking an employment in the foreign country. They are specifically issued to individuals who have not passed their 10th standard. It will be required to work only in specific gulf and Southeast Asian countries such as  Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Kuwait,  Afghanistan,  Bahrain,  Brunei,  Indonesia,  Malaysia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Yemen. If a person is travelling in above countries for purpose other than employment then they need not get ECR endorsements on their passports. Now the passports with ECR stamp will be given orange jacketed passports.

ECR category was introduced to protect the workers travelling to such countries as most of them are marginalized and illiterate workers.

ECNR stands for ‘Emigration Check not required’. All individuals having passed matriculation and above falls under ECNR category. Therefore such person does not require emigration clearance to travel to above mentioned countries. Passports endorsed with ECNR will continue with blue jacketed passports. Some of the other important categories out of total 14 categories who are exempted from emigration requirement are:

• All holders of diplomatic/official passports.
• All gazetted government officials.
• All income tax payers.
• All professional degree holders. For example-graduates and post graduates etc.
• Spouses and dependent children upto the age of 24.
• Persons with permanent immigration visas or green cards of countries like USA, UK, and Australia.
• Persons having at least 2 to 3 years diploma from a government/national recognized

Why has this been introduced now?

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been taking steps to ensure better passport services to the people. For example-opening new passport centers, speedy approval of passport applications, making passports more gender neutral by making application procedure more procedure friendly for single mothers. This has been done by taking out the last page from the passport which asks for father name.

Among all above measures the introduction of orange category has been done to make checks easier for the government officials to identify which passports need an ECR review and which do not. Thus, leading to administrative convenience. Moreover the passports with ECR category are more prone to exploitation as witnessed in many gulf counties. So it is the duty of the government to give them all possible support and protection in case of any exploitation and violation of human rights. It is expected that with an orange passport, ECR passport holders will stand out in difficult situations and their passports will allow for quick processing of their documents.

Why the move has been criticized?

An orange colour passport will explicitly show that that the person is not well educated, thereby, increasing the chances of exploitation. It will also increase the vulnerability of the workers to be duped by the middlemen who often promise them high paid jobs in foreign countries.

They will be treated as second class citizens because of the colour of their passports which is completely unacceptable. Critics point out that the Indian diaspora already faces discrimination and segregation in gulf countries. The current will only going to deepen it further.

Comment

There are an estimated six million Indian migrants in the six Gulf States of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates etc. Out of which many are trafficked and exploited. So before the government rolls out the implementation of such policy it is important to take into account the views of all stakeholders so that the good intentions of the government to reach out to Indian diaspora are well reflected.