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Foreign Hospitality

Q1. What is foreign hospitality? 

Foreign Hospitality means any offer, not being a purely casual one, made in cash or kind by a foreign source for providing a person with the costs of travel to any foreign country or territory or with free board, lodging, transport or medical treatment. 

Q2. Who requires prior approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs before accepting Foreign Hospitality?

The following categories of persons require prior approval from Ministry of Home Affairs before accepting Foreign Hospitality:- 

a) Members of a Legislature 

b) office bearers of political parties 

c) Judges 

d) Government servants, Public Servants 

e) Employees of any corporation or any other body owned or controlled by the Government. Provided that it shall not be necessary to obtain any such permission for an emergent medical aid needed on account of sudden illness contracted during a visit outside India. But, where such foreign hospitality has been received, the person receiving such hospitality shall give an intimation to the Central Government as to the receipt of such hospitality within one month from the date of receipt of such hospitality, and the source from which, and the manner in which, such hospitality was received. 

Q3.  In which cases do applications not be submitted to MHA for grant of permission to accept foreign hospitality ? 
  1. Where the entire expenditure on the proposed foreign visit is being met by the Central/State Government or any Central/State PSU Etc. 

  2. Where the proposed foreign visit is being undertaken by a person in his/her personal capacity and the entire expenditure thereon is being met by the person concerned. 

  3. Where the foreign hospitality is being provided by an Indian national living in a foreign country or territory. 

  4. Cases involving acceptance of an assignment on salary, fee or remuneration etc. 

  5. Cases involving funding offered by an agency/organisation mentioned in list of agencies of the United Nations and other International Organisations, which are not treated as “foreign source” (available on website  https://fcraonline.nic.in

  6. Cases involving visits undertaken by the Members of an Indian Parliamentary delegation under bilateral exchange.

  7. Cases involving visits undertaken in pursuance of a bilateral agreement between the Government of India and the Government of the country concerned, approved by the Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs)

  8. Cases involving long term/short term foreign training courses approved by the Ministry of Personnel, Training and Public Grievances 

The applicant should submit an application in electronic form in Form FC-2 on website - https://fcraonline.nic.in. 

Following documents are to be uploaded with FC-2 form (as mentioned under Rule 7 of FCRR, 2011) 

(i) Signature of the applicant (maximum 50 KB allowed in JPG/ JPEG format) 

(ii) An invitation letter from the host or the host country, as the case may be (maximum 1 MB allowed in PDF format)  

(iii) Administrative clearance of the Ministry or department concerned in case of visits sponsored by a Ministry or department of the Government (maximum 1 MB allowed in PDF format). 

Q6. When should the application for filing the FC-2 form be filled? 

The application for grant of permission to accept foreign hospitality should be filed online ordinarily two weeks before the proposed date of onward journey. In case of emergent medical aid needed on account of sudden illness during a visit abroad, the acceptance of foreign hospitality shall be required to be intimated to the Central Government within one month of such receipt giving full details including the source, approximate value in Indian Rupees, and the purpose for which and the manner in which it was utilised. 

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