US curbs on travel from India

Washington: Certain categories of students, academics, journalists and individuals have been exempted from the India travel ban announced by President Joe Biden, the US State Department said.

The exemptions were issued by Secretary of State Tony Blinken, hours after Joe Biden issued a proclamation restricting travel from India beginning May 4 because of the "extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the country".

According to the US State Department, the travel ban exemption is in line with a similar exemption that the US has granted to some categories of travellers from Brazil, China, Iran and or South Africa. In keeping with the Department of State's commitment to facilitate legitimate travel to the United States, Secretary Blinken decided today to apply the same set of National Interest Exceptions to India that he had previously applied to all other regional travel restrictions currently in effect as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the State Department said.

Students seeking to commence studies in the fall, academics, journalists and individuals who provide critical infrastructure support in countries affected by a geographic Covid-19 restriction may qualify for the exception, it said. This includes qualified applicants who have been present in India, Brazil, China, Iran, or South Africa, it added.