Owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, international travel has been heavily impacted because of the imposed regulations by the immigration authorities of the countries to further help contain the spread of the virus.
Some of the reports from the US have poured in suggesting that the Indians on the H-1B visa working in US have been facing a hard time to travel back to India if they have a US born child.
Indians with kids with US citizenship
Under the Vande Bharat Mission, one of the biggest rescues and repatriation mission of the Indian government which was launched last month deported 149 flights to around 31 countries to help bring back all the Indians who have been stranded in several of the foreign countries.
Till now, around 1.07 lakh Indians have been brought back to India under this mission and more is going to be done in the days to come.
But, amidst these issues, the one thing that has stood out is the notification for the Indians with valid H-1B visa wanting to return to India but aren’t allowed to do so if they have a US-born child.
The current Indian immigration does consider the emergency visas but there have been salient restrictions on visas or the categories like emergency or the entry visa.
India has clearly mentioned that every individual should have an Indian visa or the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card to be able to return to India under the repatriation mission.
Problems faced by Indians
In one such event, AngurajKailasam’s work visa has expired which puts her in the “out of status” category under the US immigration law. While she is expected to leave the country as soon as possible, due to the restrictions imposed, her US-born daughter is not allowed to leave the country and return to India.
She had further requested the Indian government to consider entry of the minor kids under the Vande Bharat Mission. Despite her having both the entry and the emergency visa, she is not able to return to India because of her daughter not being allowed to do so.
Another case was of Gopinath Nagarajan, who has his mother in coma in India. But, given the fact that he has a four-month-old son who is US-born, he is not able to travel under the Vande Bharat mission.
Jincy Mathew, who wants to return to India is unable to do so because her 6-month old US-born daughter can’t fly out with her because of the lack of OCI card. On the other hand, Mathew’s student visa is on the verge of expiration.
Rose Merin Pathrose was working in Chicago under the H-1B visa and had packed everything up at her rented apartment and the furniture and car because she wanted to return to India with her 4-year old son but was unable to do so.
There have been several cases like this that doesn’t allow the Indian parents on H-1B visa with US-born kids to return to India under the Vande Bharat Mission.
