Parliament Question: Regulation of Immigration Agents

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 2236 ANSWERED ON - 31/07/2026 REGULATION OF IMMIGRATION AGENTS

2236. SHRI PUTTA MAHESH KUMAR SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is aware of the growing incidents of fake immigration agents and fraudulent overseas job/visa consultants cheating Indian citizens across the country, including Andhra Pradesh, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of the number of complaints received and cases registered against such agents, State/UT-wise, during the last three years, year-wise;

(c) the steps taken to identify, blacklist and prosecute unauthorised agents, including action taken under the Emigration Act and coordination with State Police and other agencies; and

(d) whether the Government has undertaken any steps to strengthen public awareness, grievance redressal and prevention mechanisms for protecting emigrant workers, if so, the details thereof? 1ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH) (a to d) Recruitment Agencies (RA) in India for engaging in the recruitment business for overseas employment are regulated as per the provisions under The Emigration Act, 1983 and Rules thereunder. As per Section 10 of the Emigration Act, 1983, no person or agency can function as RA without a valid Registration Certificate (RC) issued by the Registering Authority, i.e., Protector General of Emigrants (PGE). Mandatory registration of RA is aimed at curbing fraud and exploitation of prospective Indian emigrants seeking overseas employment.

The RC holders are required to comply with the provisions under the Emigration Act, 1983, and the terms and conditions of Registration Certificate prescribed in Section 10 of The Emigration Rules, 1983, which are focussed on safeguarding the interests of emigrant workers. The Emigration Act/Rules, 1983 also provide for punitive actions against the registered RAs for violation of the provisions thereunder.

Issuance of RC is done through eMigrate Portal (https://emigrate.gov.in) only which is maintained by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). List of 2all the registered RAs in India is publicly available on the eMigrate portal.

List of unregistered agents against whom complaints were received, has also been published on the eMigrate portal to caution the prospective emigrants. As on date a total of 3,505 such unregistered agents have been notified on the eMigrate portal.

Instances of unauthorized agents involved in fraudulent recruitment activities and cheating Indian citizens is taken into cognizance when such incidents are brought to the attention of the GOI. As and when complaints of illegal recruitment activities by unauthorized agents, including those from the State of Andhra Pradesh, are received in the MEA, they are referred to the State/UT police for investigation and prosecution under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other legislations in place. Data of complaints of illegal recruitment activities received from the States/UTs, including those from Andhra Pradesh, and action taken against them during the last three years are given in Annexure-I. Data of complaints against unauthorized agent registered on eMigrate portal is given in Annexure-II.

Advisories are issued through the eMigrate portal, social media handles, and other modes about the perils of fake job rackets and ways to prevent 3illegal emigration through unauthorised RAs. The MEA, through the 17 Protector of Emigrants (POE) Offices across India, including the POE Office in Andhra Pradesh, also carries out awareness campaign on safe and legal mobility by conducting workshops, training/information sessions, digital campaigns for media groups, police officials and law enforcement agencies, local administration, and general public. MEA also coordinates with the State Nodal agencies on the issues of illegal recruitment activities by fake agencies.

To address grievances of Indian workers employed abroad, there are established channels to enable them to reach out to the Indian Missions/Posts for assistance. They can contact the Missions/Posts through walk-in, email, multilingual 24x7 emergency numbers, WhatsApp number, grievance redressal portal like MADAD/CPGRAMS/eMigrate, and social media. Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras have been set up in key locations including New Delhi, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, London and Riyadh to provide guidance and counselling to Indian workers. Indian Missions/Posts regularly organize Open Houses and Consular Camps in different cities to extend consular services and address any grievances.

There are dedicated Labour Wings in the Indian Missions/Posts in most of the Gulf countries which pro-actively take up grievances of emigrant 4workers with the concerned FE, inspect the work place of the aggrieved worker and also take up, where required, with the local Labour Department and other host country authorities.

5ANNEXURE I Data regarding complaints of illegal recruitment activities and follow up action [2023 – 2025] Number of Complaints ATR Submitted by State Number of Cases in which Number of Prosecution Police request for issue of Sanctions issued prosecution sanction after S.N State/UT investigation received o.

2023 2024 2025 2023 2024 2025 2023 2024 2025 2023 2024 2025 Andaman and Nicobar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1.

Islands

2. Andhra Pradesh 445 602 448 5 11 19 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3. Arunachal Pradesh

4. Assam 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5 1 1(FIR 1(FIR 1(FIR 0 0 0 0 0 0

5. Bihar registere registere registere d) d) d) 3 9 80 0 0 34 (3 0 0 0 0 0 0

6. Chandigarh FIRs)

7. Chhattisgarh 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

8. and Daman & Diu 4 92 153 0 0 17 ATR 0 11 13 0 11 13

9. Delhi 17 FIR

10. Goa 5 1 13 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

611. Gujarat 2 9 12 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 2 33 0 0 09 ATR 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 FIR

12. Haryana + 5 ATR+1 FIR

13. Himachal Pradesh 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

14. Jammu & Kashmir 1 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0

15. Jharkhand 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

16. Karnataka 32 33 61 6 8 0 3 0 1 3 0 1 110 277 238 87 (FIRs 197(FIR 158 7 15 0 7 1 14 Register s

17. Kerala ed) Register ed) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

18. Ladakh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

19. Lakshadweep

20. Madhya Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

21. Maharashtra 6 14 22 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0

22. Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

23. Meghalaya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 1 0 3 FIR 0 1 0 0 0 1

24. Mizoram Register ed

725. Nagaland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 7 0 2 (FIR 1 (FIR 0 0 0 0 0 0

26. Odisha Register Register ed) ed)

27. Puducherry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56 18 80 0 38(FIR 69 0 0 0 0 0 0

28. Punjab Register ed)

29. Rajasthan 35 87 97 0 0 4 2 0 0 2 0 0

30. Sikkim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

31. Tamil Nadu 152 106 99 7 64 52 1 0 0 1 0 0

32. Telangana 132 96 111 35 17 47 0 0 0 0 0 0

33. Tripura 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 0 0 0 ATR 0 0 0 0 0 0

34. Uttarakhand 0 FIR 0 6 31 0 0 08 ATR 0 0 0 0 0 0

35. Uttar Pradesh 03 FIR

36. West Bengal 5 10 35 2 2 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 8Annexure-II Data of complaints against unauthorized agent registered on eMigrate portal during last five years Year Total GRs Received Total GRs Resolved 2021 70 27 2022 189 98 2023 84 43 2024 120 67 2025 321 224 Total 784 459 ***** 9