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Up to 2,000 Indians are expected to be evacuated from the United States in the first wave of seven flights starting Saturday, and the first batch will depart on an Air India flight from San Francisco.
Indian officials have said that a decision on the next wave of flights will be made at a later date, depending on how the situation evolves.
These evacuations are part of the Vande Bharat Mission, an effort undertaken by the Indian government to bring Indians to their stranded homes abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic and the blockades and suspension of international travel.
The American side is probably the largest evacuation of Indians in this country.
An estimated 24,000 Indians have registered for evacuation with Indian missions in the United States, and include students, H-1B workers with expired or fired visas, employers and tourists, and people with medical conditions.
There are an estimated 2,00,000 Indian students in US colleges and universities. And hundreds of thousands with short-term H-1B nonimmigrant visas and green cards.
The following flights depart from Newark (May 10 and 14), Chicago (May 11 and 15), Washington DC (May 12), and San Francisco (May 13.
All passengers will be medically checked before boarding the flight and only those who are asymptomatic will be able to travel.
They will be medically examined and will arrive in India and have undergone a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
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