On average, 5 foreigners deported from Goa a month for staying without valid documents

Panaji: Over the past five years, Goa saw an average of five foreigners deported per month from the state for staying without valid travel documents. There were 16 minors among the 340 deported over the past five years

This number includes nationals from Russia, Bangladesh, Uganda, Nigeria, Britain, Argentina, Ukraine, Belarus, and Mauritius. Goa police registered 25 cases against owners of guest houses and owners of service apartments, among others, for not providing details to police regarding foreigners staying at their premises.


Chief minister Pramod Sawant said Goa police conducted checks on hotels, guest houses, houses, individuals, service apartments, and owners who let out or provided accommodation to foreigners through the beat staff of police station jurisdictions.

Referring to the mechanism to monitor foreigners overstaying in Goa, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office circulates a list of overstaying foreigners to district SPs on a monthly basis for appropriate action. Accordingly, the SP conducts verification drives and apprehends foreigners who overstay.

The crime branch also conducts foreigners’ verification drives and apprehends foreigners who overstay in Goa. Investigations in narcotic cases against foreign nationals reveal that foreigners without valid travel documents have gotten involved in alleged illegal activities to continue their stay in Goa.

In the past 6.5 years, 149 foreigners have been arrested by Goa police for allegedly being involved in the narcotic trade. A senior police officer said that criminal cases against them gave them “blanket permission” to continue to stay in Goa.

The officer added that when they interrogated the accused in narcotic cases, the accused revealed that they pleaded guilty before the court in cases of overstaying without documents, but faced trial in narcotic cases so that they could continue to stay pending trial.

Goa police have established a detention centre at Mapusa. Police said that those people found to be involved in illegal activities and overstaying were lodged in the detention centre, and the FRRO started their deportation process. Police said that in some cases, deportation took a long time due to the verification of documents.