Team Herald
PANJIM: From April 1 onwards, the police clearance certificates (PCC) of foreign nationals will be dealt by the Foreigners Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs that hitherto lay with the State government.
As such, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office – having its office at police headquarters in Panjim – is now vested with the powers to issue the PCC to foreign nationals seeking visa or employment in other countries.
So also, the manual system has been replaced with an online module as a recent notification issued by the State Home Department states, “The MHA has introduced online PCC module under the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners’ Registration and Tracking Project,” the notification issued by under secretary (Home-I) Harish Adconkar reads.
As per the online module, powers to approve or reject the applications of foreigners seeking PCC are provided to the FRRO. The government has clarified that present applications up to March 31, 2016 will be under the domain of the State Home Department.
