The Foreigners Act, 1946

Foreigners Act, 1946
Imperial Legislative Assembly
  • An Act to confer upon the Central Government certain powers in respect of foreigners.
CitationAct No. 31 of 1946
Territorial extentwhole of India
Enacted byImperial Legislative Assembly
Enacted23 November 1946
Assented to byGovernor General
Assented to23 November 1946
Repeals
  • Foreigners Act, 1864 (III of 1864)
  • Foreigners Act, 1940 (II of 1940)
  • Foreigners Act (Amendment) Ordinance, 1946 (XXI of 1946)
Amended by
  • Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 1947 (38 of 1947)
  • Continuance of Legal Proceedings Act 1948 (38 of 1948)
  • Repealing and Amending Act, 1950 (35 of 1950)
  • Foreigners Laws (Amendment) Act 1957 (11 of 1957)
  • Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004 (16 of 2004)
Repealed by
Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025
Related legislation
Indian nationality law
Status: Repealed

The Foreigners Act, 1946 was an Act of the Imperial Legislative Assembly enacted to grant the certain powers to the Interim Government of India in matters of foreigners in India. The Act was enacted before India became independent. It was repealed by Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.

Definition

The Act defines a foreigner as "a person who is not a citizen of India". Section 9 of the Act states that, where the nationality of a person is not evident as per Section 8, the onus of proving whether a person is a citizen of India shall lie upon such person.

Identification

According to the Foreigners (Report to the police) Order, 2001, made under the Foreigners Act 1946, where any person who has reason to believe that a foreigner has entered India without valid documents or is staying in India beyond the authorized period of stay accommodates such a foreigner in a premises occupied, owned or controlled by him, for whatever purpose, it shall be the duty of such a person to inform the nearest police station, within 24 hours, of the presence of such foreigner.[1]

Reporting

The Foreigners Act empowers the Indian government to detain a person until deportation back to their country of origin.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Foreigners Act, 1946, Indian Kanoon.
  2. ^ "In Strident Campaign, Jammu Politicians Target Rohingya Muslim Refugees", The Wire, 7 February 2017
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