COVID-19: China to lift 2-year visa ban on stranded Indian professionals & their families

Two years after the strict visa restrictions imposed by Beijing on Indians due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, China has now announced that it would provide visas to Indian professionals and their families who are stranded in India ever since the pandemic started. It is currently being hoped that after the announcement on visas, flight services may be resumed too between the two nations soon.

The Chinese Embassy in India on June 13 updated its COVID-19 visa policy after over two years to accept visa applications of foreign nationals who are now willing to go back to China and resume work in all fields. On the other hand, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi said that family members of Chinese citizens and foreigners with Chinese permanent residence permits going to China for family reunions or visiting relatives can apply for visas.

This comes four days after the Chinese Embassy in India had issued a statement, clarifying that the Chinese embassy has not yet started taking visa applications from Indian students and families to return to the country. The clarification came in view of recent reports suggesting that a few Indians got telephonic confirmation from the Embassy of China in India about the Chinese embassy receiving visa applications. 

Indian students & professionals hope to go back to China 

Earlier in April, the Chinese government had shared a Google form to fill in details of the Indian students who wish to return to China for their offline studies. Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the year 2019, wreaking havoc across the globe, several Indian students and working people came back to India after the Chinese government closed all universities and further imposed visa restrictions for foreign nationals. It has been almost two years as the students wait desperately to resume their studies, while many still wait to reunite with their families who are currently in China.  

As per reports, over 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine in Chinese colleges, are stuck in India after they returned home as the coronavirus broke out in China in December 2019. 

Image: AP, Unsplash, PTI