The Union Home Ministry’s foreigners’ division has been directed to permit certain categories of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders — stranded abroad — to return home. The decision has been taken to allay fears of overseas’ citizens of India (OCI) cardholders following the temporary suspension of their ability to visit India.
Minor children born to Indian nationals abroad have been allowed to return. OCI cardholders who seek to return to India on account of family emergencies like death will also be allowed to return.
Couples will be allowed to return to India, in cases where one spouse is an OCI cardholder and the other is an Indian nation. But they need to have a permanent residence in India.
University students from India, who are OCI cardholders and have their parents living in India can also return to India.
Therefore, the travel restrictions imposed on these categories of OCI cardholders will not apply anymore.
MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava already revealed several details of phase 2 of Vande Bharat mission, which is expected to continue till June 13.
“We are looking to bring back our nationals from 47 countries on 162 flights. In this phase, we are including places like Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh city, Lagos and also increasing flights to the USA and Europe,” he said.
“We are also looking at developing Frankfurt as a hub.”
Sources said that nearly after two months of lockdown, the government is likely to arrange hundreds of flights in the next few days to bring back Indians, including several categories of OCI cardholders.
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