♦ Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh will soon get an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Complex of the Bureau of Immigration (BoI).

♦ The BoI, which operates under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, had requested the state government for land to construct an OCR complex in Visakhapatnam.

♦ BoI OCR complexes are specialised facilities that support immigration control and border management through technology-driven passenger processing.

♦ The BoI regulates the movement of foreign nationals and Indian citizens entering or leaving the country.

♦ At airports, seaports, and land check posts, immigration officers use passport readers and scanners to capture traveller details such as passport number, nationality, visa type, and biometric information.

♦ OCR complexes serve as centralised processing and data management hubs, where this information is received, verified, and stored electronically in real time.

♦ The Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA), in its recent board meeting, approved the allotment of nearly 9,000 square yards of land in the Ozone Valley Layout at Marikavalasa.