The Indian government has decided to rewrite its visa manual after all the confusion and controversy regarding the visas of the David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana – the Pakistani terrorists based in the United States. The final draft of the manual would be brought out in January 2010.

According to the sources, the main purpose behind this initiation is to make the immigration policies and procedures as meaty as possible without hampering the aspects of security. With the above suspects having an Canadian and a US citizenship, it was difficult to establish a connection of their origins. To avoid such misgivings in the future, a meet was held.

The various MPs discussed the issue on the visas in a consultative committee meeting of the Home Ministry. The outcome is to that an assignment known as the Mission Mode Project (MMP) has been initiated. This project is completely based on Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking. The entire project is estimated to cost around Rs. 1,011 crores. This money would be utilized in developing better procedures for an integrated service delivery framework which would cater to the travelers who are legitimate, yet tightening measures on security.

This project would be executed over the next four and a half years starting April 2010. There would be 169 missions, 77 Integrated Check Posts, 5 Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs) and more than 660 Foreigners Registration Offices (FROs) with the Central Foreigners Bureau.

With this, Mr. Chidambaram also indicated that having only around 5 million visitors annually was too less a number from a huge country like India. This clearly indicates an urge to promote India as a destination for foreigners to come and visit for the purpose of work and pleasure.

All in all, if you are an NRI or someone who would like to visit India, it is highly recommended that you get in touch with an Immigration and Visa consultant who would guide you appropriately in this regard.