Who must file, and when
Rule 17 of the Immigration and Foreigners Rules, 2025 puts the duty on the keeper of the accommodation. Every foreigner — including an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder — who stays must give the particulars and sign on arrival, and give the date and time of departure and the next address when leaving. The keeper must:
- transmit the filled-in Form III electronically, through the designated online portal or mobile app, as soon as may be but not beyond 24 hours after arrival;
- transmit the departure details the same way within 24 hours of the guest leaving;
- keep the particulars electronically for at least one year, available for inspection on demand.
"Accommodation" in the rule is wide: it includes a boarding house, club, dak-bungalow, rest house, hostel, paying guest house, sarai, rented accommodation, home stay and tents, among others — not only hotels. The Form C page on the FRRO portal states that accommodators are legally obliged to file it for all foreigners, OCI cardholders included.
What the form asks
Form III (marked "earlier Form C" in the rules) asks for the premises' name, address and phone; the guest's full name as in the passport, nationality, passport number, visa or OCI number and type, phone in India and email; where they arrived from, the date and time of arrival, the purpose of the visit and the previous place of stay; and, on departure, the date, time and next destination.
Example
A French couple checks in at 11 pm on Friday. Form C for each of them must be on the portal by 11 pm on Saturday. They leave at 10 am on Monday, so the departure must be reported by 10 am on Tuesday.
How Nivasik handles it
Police & Form C is a Nivasik module for India (it is not offered outside India). It holds every field the form asks for, shows which foreign arrivals are still incomplete before the 24 hours run out, prints the register, and keeps the acknowledgement number the portal returns — a Form C is not marked filed without it.