The government decided on Thursday to restore with immediate effect all existing visas, except those of the electronic, tourist and medical categories, almost eight months after their suspension following the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent imposition of a national lockdown. The Ministry of the Interior (MHA) also announced the granting of permission to all Indian Foreign Citizens (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card holders and all other foreign nationals to visit India for any reason, except with a tourist visa.
The ministry said in a statement that in view of the situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had taken a series of measures to curb the movement of international passengers in and out since February 2020. Make a gradual relaxation in visa and travel restrictions for more categories of foreign citizens and Indian citizens wishing to enter or leave India.
Under this gradual relaxation, the government has decided to restore with immediate effect all existing visas, except the electronic visa, the tourist visa and the medical visa, according to the statement. If the validity of such visas has expired, new visas of the appropriate categories can be obtained from the corresponding Indian mission or post.
Foreign nationals who wish to visit India for medical treatment can reapply for a medical visa, including for their medical assistants. Therefore, this decision will allow foreign citizens to come to India for various purposes such as business, conference, employment, study, research, medical purpose, etc.
The government has also decided to allow all OCI and PIO cardholders and all other foreign nationals who intend to visit India for any reason except for a tourist visa, to enter by air or sea routes through airports. authorized and immigration checkpoints in seaports. This includes flights operated under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission, air transport bubble arrangements or by any non-scheduled commercial flights allowed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
However, all these travelers will be required to strictly adhere to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines regarding quarantine and other health / COVID-19 matters. While the visa restrictions were imposed after the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in February, commercial flight operations were suspended when the nationwide shutdown took effect on March 25.
However, the government has been allowing limited Air India flight operations under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission for certain categories of OCI and PIO cardholders and those Indians who were trapped due to the COVID-19 outbreak since June.
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