Form III: what actually changed

Last updated: August 6, 2026

If you run an accommodation in India and you have started seeing the phrase Form III on circulars from your state tourism department, this is what it means: it is the form you already know as Form C, under a new name. Nothing about your obligation got easier or harder. The paperwork got a different number.

The short version

Same form, new name. The Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025 and the Immigration and Foreigners Rules 2025 replaced the older Foreigners Act framework. What was Form C is Form III.
Same duty. You still report every foreign national who stays at your property. Section 8(1) of the Act carries the obligation; rule 17 of the Rules sets out the manner of reporting.
Same portal. Filings still go to indianfrro.gov.in, which — at the time of writing — still labels the form C-Form. That is not an oversight on your part.
Same deadline. Twenty-four hours from the guest's arrival. See the 24-hour rule.

Why you are seeing both names at once

Official circulars themselves tend to write it as "Form III [erstwhile Form-'C']", which is a fair summary of where things stand. The statute has moved; the portal, the software, the front-desk vocabulary and a decade of Google results have not. Expect both names to be in circulation for a long time, and do not assume a circular naming Form III is describing something new you have missed.

A practical test: if a document tells you to register foreign guests within 24 hours of arrival at indianfrro.gov.in, it is talking about the form you are already filing, whatever it calls it.

What did change

The 2025 framework tightened the record-keeping side. Rule 17 requires an accommodation provider to keep the electronic record of a foreign guest for at least 12 months. That is a duty on you as the accommodation provider — the records are yours, and a filing tool is a tool, not the keeper of your obligations. It is worth checking what your current system actually retains, because "we filed it on the portal" and "we still have the record" are not the same statement.

Enforcement language also firmed up. The FAQ covers what happens if you do not file in more detail than is useful here.

What did not change

Who has to file did not narrow. It is not only hotels: rule 17 reaches guest houses, homestays, resorts, lodges and anyone else providing accommodation to a foreign national, including someone renting out a single room. If you take money for a bed and a foreigner sleeps in it, you file. See Form C for homestays and small properties if that describes you.

Indian citizens are still outside it. OCI and PIO cardholders are not — a card is not citizenship, so the holder is a foreign national and a filing is required for them just as for any other foreign guest.

Do you need to change anything you are doing?

Almost certainly not, if you were already filing. Keep filing, keep to the 24 hours, and keep the records for 12 months. The one thing worth reviewing is that last part, because it is the part most properties were not thinking about when the form was still called Form C.

Where C Form Plus fits

Your guest fills their own details in on their phone — passport, visa, arrival, the lot — before or at check-in. Your desk files the whole thing to the FRRO portal in one click, and the acknowledgement number is recorded against the guest so you can prove the filing later. The pricing is per check-in, with no subscription.

This page is general information, not legal advice. The obligation to register foreign guests is yours as the accommodation provider, and the wording of the Act and Rules is what governs it. If you are unsure how they apply to your property, take proper advice.

Ready to stop typing Form C?

Your guests fill in their own details before they arrive. Your desk files them to the FRRO portal in one click.

Your first 5 foreign guests are free. No card needed.

Contact us

Questions about this policy, your data, or anything else:

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Business: C Form Plus, Goa, India