Kohima, Agartala get their own FRRO offices for foreigners

The Centre has notified new Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs) in Kohima and Agartala, giving Nagaland and Tripura their own offices for registering and monitoring foreign nationals, according to a government statement issued through the Press Information Bureau on Monday.

A third new office has been notified in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, taking the total number of FRROs in the country to 20.

What changes for Nagaland and Tripura

Until now, both Kohima and Agartala came under the jurisdiction of the FRRO in Kolkata. Foreign tourists, students, patients and workers in the two states, and the agencies dealing with them, will now be able to use an office in their own state capital.

FRROs handle registration of foreigners, extension of stay, visa-related services and exit permissions, and track compliance with immigration law. They also deal with cases of overstay and visa violations and coordinate legal action or penalties where needed.

Part of a wider push

The statement said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed officials to ensure there is an FRRO in every state capital, to cater to the growing number of foreigners coming to India for tourism, medical treatment and education. Five new offices have started working since 2025, including in Aizawl and Guwahati, as well as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Amravati.

With Kohima and Agartala, four of the eight northeastern states now have their own FRRO: Assam (Guwahati), Mizoram (Aizawl), Nagaland and Tripura.

The government said it is considering further expanding the network to the states still without an office, a list that includes Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya, along with Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The legal backdrop

The expansion follows the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which merged four older laws into a single framework for the entry, stay, movement and exit of foreign nationals. Under the Act, the Bureau of Immigration is to be assisted by FRROs authorised by the Centre.

The statement said the expansion has a dual focus: making legitimate travel and stay easier for foreigners, and ensuring immigration and security rules are enforced effectively.

Why it matters in the Northeast

Nagaland and Tripura share international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh respectively, and both states have been trying to draw more foreign tourists, with Nagaland's Hornbill Festival in December a major draw. A local FRRO is expected to cut travel and paperwork for visitors and their hosts, while giving the states closer oversight of foreigners on their soil.

The statement did not say when the new offices would start functioning.