Nagaland: Kohima FRRO added to immigration jurisdiction tables

The Ministry of Home Affairs has added the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kohima, against Nagaland in two immigration jurisdiction tables through notifications dated 28 October 2026. The amendments also insert entries for FRRO Bhubaneswar against Odisha and FRRO Agartala against Tripura, while removing the three states from their previous entries.

Published in the Gazette of India on 28 October, notifications S.O. 5853(E) and S.O. 5854(E) amend separate notifications issued on 1 September 2025 under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025. Both make the same territorial changes, giving each of the three states a separate entry against its named regional registration officer.

For Nagaland, the new entry identifies Kohima as the regional office in both tables. The notifications change the allocation recorded in those tables; they do not announce a new reporting form, application fee or deadline for foreigners or institutions hosting them.

What the two notifications change

Under both Home Ministry notifications, the word “Odisha” is deleted from column three against serial number eight. The entry “Tripura and Nagaland” is deleted from the same column against serial number nine.

Three entries are then inserted after serial number 17. FRRO Bhubaneswar appears at serial number 18 for Odisha, FRRO Agartala at number 19 for Tripura, and FRRO Kohima at number 20 for Nagaland. The amendments do not reproduce the full tables or name the officers attached to the entries from which the states have been removed.

The two instruments serve different statutory roles. S.O. 5853(E) invokes Section 2(c) and amends S.O. 3990(E), while S.O. 5854(E) invokes Section 2(r) and amends S.O. 3991(E). A separate Nagaland Police order explains the distinction between these provisions: Section 2(c) concerns civil authorities, while Section 2(r) concerns registration officers.

In that police order, registration functions include maintaining foreigners’ records, monitoring and travel reporting. Civil-authority functions include examination, movement restrictions and departure oversight. The parallel Gazette amendments therefore make the territorial changes in both statutory tables, rather than changing only one designation.

The Home Ministry’s notes accompanying the amendments record earlier changes to both principal notifications on 26 November 2025, 18 June 2026 and 22 September 2026. The October notifications provide the latest amendments in that documented sequence, but do not reproduce the substance of those earlier changes.

Kohima reporting notice names Kolkata

A Kohima district reporting notice published by Nagaland’s Department of Information and Public Relations names FRRO Kolkata as the registration officer to whom specified institutions must report foreigners and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders.

The department’s account says the Deputy Commissioner issued the order following communications from the Office of the Commissioner, Nagaland, and the Home Ministry’s Foreigners-I Division. Its text does not carry a date, so it does not establish when the district issued those directions relative to the 28 October amendments.

That distinction matters: the Gazette now inserts Kohima against Nagaland, while the district notice’s wording identifies Kolkata. The two sources document different administrative references; the undated notice does not establish the reporting destination after the amendment.

According to the department’s account, the district order invokes Sections 8(1) and 10 of the Act for reporting by accommodation providers and medical institutions. It covers hotels, guest houses, homestays, private rentals, hospitals and nursing homes, among other establishments.

The notice says accommodation providers must maintain records under Rule 17(1). It also directs accommodation and medical establishments to transmit Form-III electronically within 24 hours of a foreigner’s arrival, citing Rules 17(5) and 18(5). Universities and educational institutions admitting foreign students must furnish information electronically about students residing in hostels, the notice says, citing Rule 16.

These reporting requirements are described in the district notice. Neither of the 28 October Gazette amendments rewrites them or explains how existing electronic submissions will be routed following the territorial change.

District police retain a separate documented role

Nagaland Police’s designation order specifies district Superintendents of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police in commissionerate jurisdictions to perform registration-officer and civil-authority functions within their respective territories.

The order places those officers under the operational coordination of the Inspector General of Police, Range, as the state police nodal officer for immigration enforcement. It separately identifies the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, as the nodal officer for metropolitan Dimapur.

This district-level structure is distinct from the regional entries amended by the Centre. The Gazette notifications do not state that the Kohima FRRO entry replaces the district police designations.

The police order also directs units to report changes in the officers holding designated posts for onward communication to the Home Ministry and FRRO Kolkata. Like the district reporting notice, it therefore documents administrative arrangements referring to Kolkata, rather than setting out a transition to Kohima.

Jurisdiction is separate from travel permission

The territorial amendments do not address the protected-area permission framework for travel to Nagaland. In a separate circular dated 17 December 2024, the Home Ministry withdrew a relaxation covering Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland and directed foreigners visiting those states to obtain Protected Area Permits.

That circular also directed registration with the relevant state or district Foreigners Registration Officer within 24 hours of arrival. These were directions issued in December 2024, not new requirements announced through the October 2026 table amendments.

The 28 October notifications contain no instructions on transferring pending cases, changing portal routing or beginning public-facing services at Kohima. Their documented action is the insertion of the Kohima officer against Nagaland in both tables; the operational arrangements for that change are not set out in the notifications.