Emigration Act, 1983 provides that no citizen of India shall migrate unless he obtains emigration clearance from Protector of Emigrants. However, with a view to facilitating the movement of the workers, thirteen categories of persons have been exempted from this requirement and have been placed under Emigration Clearance Not Required (ECNR) category. Similarly, it has been recognized that certain countries (currently 17) do not have strict laws regulating the entry and employment of foreign nationals. They also do not provide avenues for grievance redressal. Thus they have been categorized as Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries. Hence, all persons, having ECR endorsed passports and going to any of the 17 ECR countries for taking up employment require emigration clearance. However, ECR passport holders going to any ECR country for purposes other than employment do not require emigration clearance. No specific mention of ECNR is made on the passports and the ones not endorsed as ECR, automatically belong to ECNR category.

test In order to get rid of the undue inconvenience and harassment to the passengers with ECR passport going abroad on tourist/visit visa, the ECR Suspension System has been abolished with effect from 1st October, 2007. Emigrants traveling for purposes other than employment are not required to take any clearance from POE offices. They are allowed to travel on production of following documents at the Airport:- 

1. Valid Passport

2. Valid visit/residence/study visa

3. Return Ticket

1.  All holders of Diplomatic / Official Passports.
2.  All Gazetted Government servants.
3. All Income-tax payers (including Agricultural Income-tax payees) in their individual capacity.
4. All professional degree holders, such as Doctors holding M.B.B.S. degrees or Degrees in Ayurved or Homoeopathy; Accredited Journalists; Engineers; Chartered Accountants; Lecturers; Teachers; Scientists; Advocates etc.
5. Spouses and dependent children of category of persons listed from (2) to (4).
6. All persons having educational qualification of matriculation and above.
7. Seamen who are in possession of CDC or Sea Cadets, Desk Cadets (i) who have passed final examination of three year B.Sc. Nautical Sciences Courses at T.S. Chanakya, Mumbai; and (ii) who have undergone three months Pre-sea training at any of the Government approved Training Institutes such as T.S. Chanakya, T.S. Rehman, T.S. Jawahar, MTI (SCI) and NIPM, Chennai after production of identity cards issued by the Shipping Master, Mumbai/Calcutta/ Chennai.
8. Persons holding permanent immigration Visas, such as the visas of UK, USA and Australia.
9.  Persons possessing two years’ diploma from any institute recognized by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) or State Council of Vocational Training (SCVT) or persons holding three years’ diploma/equivalent degree from institutions like Polytechnics recognised by Central/State Governments.
10. Nurses possessing qualification recognised under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.
11. All persons above the age of 50 years.
12. All persons who have been staying abroad for more than three years (the period of three years could be either in one stretch or broken) and their spouses.
13. All children upto the age of 18 years of age. (At the time of re-issue at the age of 18 years, ECR stamping shall be done, if applicable).