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Government of India
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
Department of Youth Affairs
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5015
TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026
Illegal Immigration through Donkey Routes
5015. SMT. HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL:
Will the Minister of YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government is aware of the growing number of Indian
youth, particularly from Punjab and other northern states fall into the
traps of illegal immigration agents who send them abroad through
illegal “donkey routes”, resulting in their detention and deportation by
foreign authorities;
(b) if so, the total number of such youth who have been reported to
have travelled through such illegal routes;
(c) the number of Indian nationals deported from foreign countries
during the last five years and the current year, year, country and
State/UT-wise and whether any assessment has been made regarding
the number of such victims of these illegal traps and if so, the details
thereof ;
(d) whether the Government have taken any measures to prevent
youth of Punjab from illegal migration and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to
deter youth falling prey to such illegal immigration agents?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
[DR. MANSUKH MANDAVIYA]
Page 1 of 11(a) to (e) Government has been made aware of instances where
dubious entities involved in fake recruitment job offers have lured Indian
nationals including from Punjab and other northern States, mostly
through social media channels for overseas employment to various
countries. Such fraudulent activities of illegal/unscrupulous recruitment
agents in the country come to light as and when a complaint is filed by
the aggrieved emigrants or their relatives/friends/family members, who
have been cheated. Since these Indian nationals proceed abroad on
their own volition through fraudulent/unscrupulous recruitment agents
and through illegal channels, specific data on the number of Indian
nationals who have attempted such irregular migration, is not available.
Most of the foreign Governments do not provide information on illegal
stay by foreigners in their countries, except when they are under orders
of deportation and travel document/nationality verification is required.
The procedure followed for deportation of foreign nationals also varies
from country to country. Some countries do not arrest the deportee but
keep them in detention/deportation centers until deportation.
Information about arrest/detention and deportation is not shared with
Indian Missions/Posts and the deportation is done directly by the host
Government if the deportee has a valid Indian travel document. Indian
Missions/Posts are contacted by the host Governments only in such
cases where nationality verification and issuance of Emergency
Certificate (EC) to the deportee is required. However, based on
information available with Indian Missions abroad, country-wise and
year-wise data of Indian nationals deported for various reasons in the
last five years, is given in Annexure.
As per Section 10 of the Emigration Act, 1983, no person/agency can
function as Recruiting Agent (RA) without a valid Registration
Certificate (RC) issued by the Registering Authority, i.e., Protector
General of Emigrants (PGE). As and when complaints of illegal
migration/human trafficking are received, such matters are referred to
the State police for investigation and prosecution under the relevant
legal provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other
legislations in place.
Page 2 of 11Ministry of External Affairs issues advisories through eMigrate portal,
social media handles, and other modes of publicity about the perils of
fake job rackets and ways to prevent the same. Till February 2026, a list
of 3,505 unregistered agents, against whom grievances have been
received, has been published on the eMigrate portal to caution the
prospective emigrants. The awareness campaign on safe and legal
migration through eMigrate portal has been carried out by the Ministry
across the country by conducting workshops, trainings, information
sessions, digital campaigns for media groups, police officials and law
enforcement agencies, local administration, aspiring recruiting agents,
entrepreneurs and general public. During these sessions awareness on
emigration regulations, schemes beneficial for emigrants like Pravasi
Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY), Pre-Departure Orientation Training
(PDOT), eMigrate portal and various advisories issued by Indian
Embassies are brought to the notice of all stakeholders.
The Protector General of Emigrants (PGE) in the Ministry of External
Affairs through 16 Protector of Emigrants (PoEs) across India, regularly
coordinates with the State Governments regarding issues of illegal
recruiting agencies and the ways to address challenges related to
enforcement of emigration rules and regulations. The Ministry of
External Affairs regularly organises such outreach programs to
sensitise various stakeholders about the benefits of safe and legal
migration and suggests ways to prevent illegal migration through
fake/unregistered recruitment agencies. In addition to the regular
information sharing on unregistered recruiting agencies, regular
meetings with the State level Nodal Officer are held.
*****
Page 3 of 11Annexure
DATA ON INDIAN NATIONALS DEPORTED FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Number of Indian nationals deported
Sl. Name of the Name of the
from foreign countries
No. Country Mission/Post
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
1 Afghanistan EOI, Kabul 0 0 0 0 0
2 Albania EOI, Tirana 0 0 0 0 0
3 Algeria EOI, Algiers 0 0 0 1 2
4 Angola HCI, Luanda 0 0 0 0 0
5 Argentina EOI, Buenos Aires 0 0 0 0 0
6 Armenia EOI, Yerevan 0 0 0 0 0
7 Australia HCI, Canberra 0 0 9 0 0
8 CGI, Melbourne 0 0 0 0 0
9 CGI, Sydney 0 2 7 28 16
10 CGI, Perth 0 0 0 0 0
11 CGI, Brisbane 0 0 0 1 3
12 Austria EOI, Vienna 0 0 0 0 0
13 Azerbaijan EOI, Baku 0 0 0 0 0
14 Bahrain EOI, Bahrain 0 0 0 0 0
15 Bangladesh HCI, Dhaka 0 0 0 0 0
16 AHCI, Chittagong 0 0 0 0 0
17 AHCI, Khulna 0 0 0 0 0
18 AHCI, Rajshahi 0 0 0 0 0
19 AHCI, Sylhet 0 0 0 0 0
20 Belarus EOI, Minsk 0 0 0 0 0
21 Belgium EOI, Brussels 0 10 19 5 4
22 Belize EOI, Mexico city 0 0 0 0 0
23 EOI, Thimphu 0 0 0 0 1
Bhutan
24 CGI, Phuntsholing 0 0 0 0 0
25 Bolivia EOI, La Paz 0 0 0 0 0
26 Botswana HCI, Gaborone 0 0 0 0 0
27 Brazil EOI, Brasilia 0 0 0 0 0
Page 4 of 1128 CGI, Sao Paulo 0 0 0 0 0
29 Bulgaria EOI, Sofia 0 0 0 0 0
30 Burkina Faso EOI, Ouagadougou 0 0 0 0 0
31 Cabo Verde EOI, Praia 0 0 0 0 0
32 Cambodia EOI, Phnom Penh 0 0 0 0 0
33 Cameroon HCI, Yaounde 0 0 0 0 0
34 Canada HCI, Ottawa 3 26 48 30 48
35 CGI, Toronto 27 38 60 63 198
36 CGI, Vancouver 0 0 0 0 0
37 Chad EOI, N'Djamena 0 0 0 0 0
38 Chile EOI, Santiago 0 0 0 0 0
39 China EOI, Beijing 5 5 3 4 7
40 CGI, Shanghai 3 1 2 1 1
41 CGI, Guangzhou 1 6 21 26 8
42 CGI, Hong Kong 123 166 207 201 300
43 Colombia EOI, Bogota 0 0 0 60 0
44 Comoros EOI, Antananarivo 0 0 0 0 0
45 Cote D'Ivoire EOI, Abidjan 0 0 0 0 0
46 Croatia EOI, Zagreb 0 0 0 0 0
47 Cuba EOI, Havana 0 0 0 0 0
48 Cyprus EOI, Nicosia 46 96 173 183 163
Czech
49 EOI, Prague 0 0 0 0 0
Republic
Democratic
50 Republic of EOI, Kinshasa 0 0 0 0 0
Congo
51 Denmark EOI, Copenhagen 0 0 0 0 0
52 Djibouti EOI, Djibouti 0 0 0 0 0
Dominican EOI, Santo
53 0 0 0 0 0
Republic Domingo
54 Ecuador EOI, Quito 0 0 0 0 0
55 Egypt EOI, Cairo 0 0 2 0 0
Equatorial
56 EOI, Malabo 0 0 0 0 0
Guinea
Page 5 of 1157 Eritrea EOI, Asmara 0 0 0 0 0
58 Estonia EOI, Tallinn 0 0 0 0 0
59 Eswatini HCI, Mbabane 0 0 0 0 0
60 Ethiopia EOI, Addis Ababa 0 0 0 0 0
61 Fiji HCI, Suva 0 0 0 0 0
62 Finland EOI, Helsinki 0 0 0 0 0
63 France EOI, Paris 0 0 0 0 0
64 CGI, Marseille 0 0 0 0 5
CGI, Saint Denis
65 0 0 0 1 0
(Reunion Island)
66 Gabon HCI, Libreville 0 0 0 0 0
67 Georgia EOI, Tbilisi 0 0 0 0 155
68 Germany EOI, Berlin 0 0 0 79 16
69 CGI, Frankfurt 0 0 0 0 0
70 CGI, Hamburg 0 0 0 0 0
71 CGI, Munich 0 0 0 0 0
72 Ghana HCI, Accra 0 0 0 0 0
73 Greece EOI, Athens 0 0 0 0 0
EOI, Guatemala
74 Guatemala 0 0 0 0 4
City
75 Guyana HCI, Georgetown 0 0 0 11 5
76 Hungary EOI, Budapest 0 0 0 0 0
77 Iceland EOI, Reykjavik 0 0 0 0 0
78 Indonesia EOI, Jakarta 0 o 0 0 11
79 CGI, Medan 0 11 0 0 3
80 CGI, Bali 5 0 20 20 10
81 Iran EOI, Tehran 0 0 0 0 0
82 CGI, Bandar Abbas 0 0 0 0 0
83 CGI, Zahedan 0 0 0 0 0
84 Iraq EOI, Baghdad 0 0 0 0 0
85 CGI, Erbil 0 0 0 0 0
86 Ireland EOI, Dublin 0 0 0 2 5
87 Israel EOI, Tel Aviv 0 0 0 0 0
88 Italy EOI, Rome 1 2 2 6 9
Page 6 of 1189 CGI, Milan 0 0 0 0 0
90 Jamaica HCI, Kingston 0 0 0 0 0
91 Japan EOI, Tokyo 23 13 16 11 12
92 CGI, Oska Kobe 0 0 0 0 0
93 CGI, Fukuoka 0 0 0 0 0
94 Jordan EOI, Amman 24 28 59 79 61
95 Kazakhstan EOI, Astana 0 0 0 0 0
96 ROI, Almaty 0 0 0 0 0
97 Kenya HCI, Nairobi 0 0 1 1 1
98 AHCI, Mombasa 0 0 0 0 0
99 Kuwait EOI, Kuwait 0 0 0 0 0
100 Kyrgyzstan EOI, Bishkek 0 0 0 0 0
101 Lao PDR EOI, Vientiane 0 0 0 0 0
102 Latvia EOI, Riga 0 0 0 0 0
103 Lebanon EOI, Beirut 2 3 1 5 2
104 Liberia EOI, Monrovia 0 0 0 0 0
105 Libya EOI, Tripoli 0 0 0 0 0
106 Lithuania EOI, Vilnius 0 0 0 0 4
107 Madagascar EOI, Antananarivo 0 0 0 0 0
108 Malawi HCI, Lilongwe 0 0 1 0 0
109 Malaysia HCI, Kuala Lumpur 1439 1188 1182 1259 1675
110 Maldives HCI, Male 16 30 117 194 150
111 Mali EOI, Bamako 0 0 0 0 0
112 Malta EOI, Malta 0 0 0 0 3
113 Mauritania EOI, Nouakchott 0 0 0 0 0
114 Mauritius HCI, Port Louis 0 0 0 0 0
115 Mexico EOI, Mexico City 0 0 0 0 0
116 Mongolia EOI, Ulaanbaatar 0 0 0 0 0
117 Morocco EOI, Rabat 0 0 0 0 0
118 Mozambique HCI, Maputo 0 0 0 0 0
119 Myanmar EOI, Yangoon 0 338 89 148 1,605
120 CGI, Mandalay 0 0 0 0 0
121 CGI, Sittwe 0 0 0 0 0
Page 7 of 11122 Namibia HCI, Windhoek 0 0 0 0 0
123 Nepal EOI, Kathmandu 0 0 0 0 0
124 CGI, Birgunj 0 0 0 0 0
125 Netherlands EOI, The Hague 0 10 58 11 3
126 New Zealand EOI, Wellington 9 20 19 20 6
127 CGI, Auckland 0 0 0 0 0
128 Niger EOI, Niamey 0 0 0 0 0
129 Nigeria HCI, Abuja 0 0 0 0 1
130 AHCI, Lagos 0 0 0 0 0
131 North Korea EOI, Pyongyang 0 0 0 0 0
132 Norway EOI, Oslo 0 0 0 0 0
133 Oman EOI, Muscat 50 57 47 25 25
134 Pakistan HCI, Islamabad 0 0 0 0 0
135 Palestine ROI, Ramallah 0 0 0 0 0
136 Panama EOI, Panama 0 0 0 215 79
Papua New
137 HCI, Port Moresby 0 0 1 1 0
Guinea
138 Paraguay EOI, Asuncion 0 0 0 0 0
139 Peru EOI, Lima 0 0 0 0 0
140 Phillipines EOI, Manila 0 0 0 0 0
141 Poland EOI, Warsaw 14 63 24 14 12
142 Qatar EOI, Doha 803 1,170 1,414 1,136 796
Republic of
143 EOI, Brazzaville 0 0 0 0 0
Congo
Republic of
144 EOI, Conakry 0 0 0 0 0
Guinea
145 Romania EOI, Bucharest 0 0 0 0 0
146 Russia EOI, Moscow 0 0 0 35 284
CGI, St.
147 0 0 0 0 0
Petersburg
148 CGI, Vladivostok 0 0 0 0 1
149 CGI, Kazan 0 0 0 0 0
CGI,
150 0 0 0 0 0
Yekaterinaburg
Page 8 of 11151 Rwanda HCI, Kigali 0 0 0 0 0
Sao Tome EOI, Sao Tome and
152 0 0 0 0 0
and Principe Principe
153 Saudi Arabia EOI, Riyadh 10264 28056 29592 5235 4335
154 CGI, Jeddah 12104 6746 7542 8831 8921
155 Senegal EOI, Dakar 0 0 0 0 0
156 Serbia EOI, Belgrade 7 68 2 5 10
HCI, Victoria,
157 Seychelles 0 0 0 0 0
Mahe
158 Sierra Leone EOI, Freetown 0 0 0 0 0
159 Singapore HCI, Singapore 22 16 21 13 15
160 Slovakia EOI, Bratislava 12 2 0 8 27
161 Slovenia EOI, Ljubljana 0 0 0 0 0
162 South Africa HCI, Pretoria 0 0 0 0 0
163 CGI Johanesburg 0 0 0 0 0
164 CGI, Cape Town 0 0 0 0 1
165 CGI, Durban 0 0 0 0 0
166 South Korea EOI, Seoul 5 7 4 0 0
167 South Sudan EOI, Juba 0 0 0 0 0
168 Spain EOI, Madrid 0 0 0 0 0
169 CGI, Barcelona 0 0 0 0 0
170 Sri Lanka HCI, Colombo 0 0 0 0 0
171 AHCI, Kandy 0 0 0 0 0
172 CGI, Jaffna 0 0 0 0 0
173 CGI, Hambantota 0 0 0 0 0
174 Sudan EOI, Khartoum 0 0 0 0 0
175 Suriname EOI, Paramaribo 0 0 0 0 0
176 Sweden EOI, Stockholm 3 1 27 16 13
177 Switzerland EOI, Bern 0 0 0 0 0
178 CGI, Geneva 0 0 0 0 0
179 Syria EOI, Damascus 0 0 0 0 0
India Taipei
180 Taiwan 0 0 0 0 0
Association
181 Tajikistan EOI, Dushanbe 0 0 0 0 0
Page 9 of 11182 Tanzania HCI, Dar-e-Salaam 0 0 0 0 0
183 CGI, Zanzibar 0 0 0 0 0
184 Thailand EOI, Bangkok 0 0 0 0 0
185 COI, Chiangmai 0 0 0 0 0
186 Timor Leste EOI, Dili 0 0 0 0 0
187 Togo EOI, Lome 0 0 0 0 0
Trinidad &
188 HCI, Port of Spain 0 0 0 0 0
Tobago
189 Tunisia EOI, Tunis 0 3 2 0 0
190 Turkiye EOI, Ankara 15 47 23 10 3
191 CGI, Istanbul 0 0 0 0 0
Turkmenista
192 EOI, Ashgabat 0 0 0 0 0
n
193 UAE EOI, Abu Dhabi 358 587 666 899 1,662
194 CGI, Dubai 876 1,203 2,841 5,221 7,896
195 Uganda HCI, Kampala 0 0 0 0 0
196 Ukraine EOI, Kyiv 21 13 11 5 5
197 United HCI, London 0 0 0 0 0
Kingdom
198 CGI, Birmingham 0 0 0 0 0
199 CGI, Edinburgh 0 0 0 0 0
200 CGI, Manchester 0 0 0 0 0
201 CGI, Belfast 0 0 0 0 0
202 Uruguay EOI, Buenos Aires 0 0 0 0 0
3414
(till
203 EOI, Washington 805 862 617 1,368 mid
Dec
2025)
204 CGI, New York 16 11 18 26 47
USA
205 CGI, Chicago 0 0 0 0 0
206 CGI, Atlanta 14 10 5 14 31
207 CGI, Houston 29 32 14 42 234
208 CGI, San Fransisco 18 43 19 17 49
209 CGI, Seattle 0 0 0 3 31
Page 10 of 11210 CGI, Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 0
211 Uzbekistan EOI, Tashkent 0 0 0 0 0
212 Venezuela EOI, Caracas 0 0 0 14 0
213 Vietnam EOI, Hanoi 0 0 0 0 0
CGI, Ho Chi Minh
214 0 0 0 0 0
City
215 Yemen EOI, Riyadh 0 0 0 0 0
216 Zambia HCI, Lusaka 0 0 0 0 0
217 Zimbabwe EOI, Harare 0 0 0 0 0
*****
Page 11 of 11