eMigrate Portal

June 18, 2024

Recently, the Ministry of External Affairs and the SBI have signed an MoU to provide an additional digital payment service of the bank through its payment gateway SBIePay to users of the eMigrate portal.

About eMigrate Portal:

  • It was launched in 2014 and it has been instrumental in making the emigration process online and transparent for Indian workers heading to countries where emigration checks are required.
  • The portal connects foreign employers, registered recruiting agents, and insurance companies issuing the Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojna, facilitating seamless, safe, and legal migration.
  • The portal also has a mechanism for voluntary registration of emigrants holding ECNR (Emigration Check Not Required) category passports proceeding for overseas employment.
  • It is integrated with the external affairs ministry’s Passport Seva Project to validate the passport details of ECR category workers. This integration helps detect fake passport cases and check for data entry errors at the registration stage.
  • The Overseas Employment (OE) and Protector General of Emigrants (PGE) division of the external affairs ministry is responsible for overseeing the emigration of Indian workers having Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) category passports.
    • These are semi-skilled and unskilled workers who are considered most vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous recruitment agents or foreign employers. 
    • ECR passport holders require Emigration Clearance (EC) when taking up jobs in the 18 designated ECR countries – Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.