Authorities requiring notice from landlords, hotels when foreign nationals leave

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? Authorities in Chennai are requiring landlords, apartment managers, hotels and other housing accommodations to provide notice to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office when foreigners move or depart from their accommodations.

What does the change mean? Affected landlords or property managers will have to provide the notice online, much as authorities in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other jurisdictions require notification when foreign nationals arrive and take up housing accommodations. Notice must be provided for any foreign national who has departed since June 1.

• Implementation time frame: Immediate and ongoing.
• Who is affected: Landlords and property managers hosting or renting to foreign nationals in Chennai.
• Business impact: Authorities in Chennai appear to be enforcing the new requirement fairly aggressively, though the penalties to businesses that do not comply are not yet clear.
• Next steps: Chennai is the first jurisdiction BAL is aware of to require notice upon a foreign national’s departure, although it seems likely this requirement will be extended to other jurisdictions.

Background: While Chennai’s departure notification policy is new, India has rolled out notification requirements for foreign nationals arriving in certain jurisdictions over the past couple of years. The web portal that is used to provide notice of foreign nationals’ departures from Chennai is the same that is used to provide notice of their arrivals.

BAL Analysis: Chennai’s new requirement is another way for authorities to better track foreigners and prevent them from overstaying or misusing their visas. BAL will continue follow developments in India to determine if authorities in other jurisdictions adopt the policy now in place in Chennai. Those with questions about the notification requirement should contact their BAL professional.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in India. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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