Barely three months after India quietly activated biometric e-gates for its Fast Track Immigration–Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP) at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, a new problem has surfaced: non-resident Indians (NRIs) can no longer prove exactly how many days they spent in the country. A viral discussion posted on 28 March 2026 in the r/nriFIRE forum captures the dilemma—CA firms are refusing to finalise tax returns without the traditional ink arrival/departure stamps, and the online ‘travel history’ report maintained by the Bureau of Immigration still shows multi-week lags. Under India’s tax law, the difference between 119 and 120 days of physical presence can mean losing NRI status and facing tax on global income. “The e-gates are fantastic from a passenger-experience perspective, but they have broken a critical evidentiary trail,” warns Rajesh Garg, partner at Big-4 firm EY India. Similar issues arose when Singapore removed passport stamps in 2022, but it simultaneously rolled out an instant digital entry record. India’s system has no such real-time API yet. The Ministry of Home Affairs says it will release a downloadable ‘Immigration Status Certificate’ in April, but advisers recommend stop-gap measures now: insist on a manual stamp at the assisted-immigration counter; keep boarding passes and e-tickets for every trip; and, if necessary, file an RTI request for your movement record well before the July 31 tax-return deadline. Multinational employers should alert assignees whose tax equalisation depends on counting days and update global-mobility policies to cover the cost of obtaining certified travel histories. Companies that rely on the 183-day rule under Double Tax Treaties may also need to revise shadow-payroll calculations until the digital record becomes reliable. In the medium term, the episode highlights the importance of integrating border-control innovation with downstream compliance workflows. India’s FTI-TTP enrolment has crossed 600,000 travellers according to airport officials, and the number is projected to reach 2 million by 2028—making a robust digital audit trail non-negotiable.
Source: Reddit r/nriFIRE post
