According to a new advisory, no commercial passenger aircraft will be allowed to land in India beginning March 22, 2020.
Immigration forums across the United States are full of queries from Indians living and working in the country about what to do in situations where traveling becomes necessary. The Embassy of India in Washington, D.C., and the country’s consulates in different parts of the United States have been constantly updating information about what to do if one is stuck in an unusual visa situation or has an emergency back home, besides launching helplines to help people get through difficult situations.
With India taking essential steps to safeguard all international travel and issuing new travel restrictions from a number of countries, many Indians abroad are getting confused on if and how they can travel.
According to the latest advisory for Novel Coronavirus Disease from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India, currently no scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft will be allowed to land in the country beginning March 22, 2020, for one week.
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The consulate General of India in New York has released a statement about miscellaneous consular services and has advised that services, such as attestation and power of attorney, will be rendered through regular post only with effect from March 16, 2020. Applicants are asked not to visit the consulate for over-the-counter services until further notice
One question that concerns all Indians who were looking at a prospective travel under emergency situation is whether they will be quarantined when they arrive in India. According to the FAQ released by the Embassy of India in Washington, all passengers coming from or transiting through the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait after 12.00 GMT on March 18, 2020, will be quarantined. Those who have visited China, the Republic of Korea, Iran, Italy, France, Spain and Germany, on or after February 15, 2020, will be quarantined. This rule applies to Indians transiting from these countries, too.
But currently, as India has disallowed any passenger aircraft to land in India, all the travel has come to a halt from the U.S., as well as from other international destinations.
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