China lifts two-year COVID visa ban on Indians; to permit return of stranded Indian professionals, households

China has introduced plans to offer visas to Indian professionals and their households stranded in India for over two years following the strict visa restrictions imposed by Beijing as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

Separately, China can be processing requests of hundreds of Indian college students finding out in Chinese universities who’ve conveyed their curiosity to re-join their faculties and universities.

On Monday, the Chinese Embassy in India up to date its COVID-19 visa coverage after over two years to simply accept visa purposes of overseas nationals and their accompanying relations desirous to go to China for resumption of labor in all fields.

It is an enormous aid for a whole bunch of Indian professionals and their households who’re caught again house since 2020.

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Last month, quite a lot of Indian professionals based mostly in China urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to press Beijing to permit their stranded households to return.

Besides the Indians, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi mentioned relations of Chinese residents and foreigners with Chinese everlasting residence permits going to China for household reunions or visiting kin can apply for visas.

Besides Indians a few of whom have Chinese spouses, many Chinese workers working for varied firms have been additionally stranded in India on account of Beijing’s blanket visa bans and flight cancellations.

However, visas for tourism and personal functions stay suspended, the Chinese Embassy announcement mentioned.

In April, after extended representations from India, China agreed to allow the return of “some” stranded Indian college students and requested the Indian Embassy right here to gather the small print of the scholars desirous to return.

As per earlier experiences, over 23,000 Indian college students, principally finding out drugs in Chinese faculties, are caught in India after they returned house because the coronavirus broke out in China in December 2019. They couldn’t return to China as a result of restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities to arrest the unfold of the contagion.

Over 12,000 Indian college students have reportedly expressed their want to return and their particulars have been forwarded to the Chinese authorities for processing.

China is but to give you a criterion to allow the return of the scholars as Beijing is reluctant to permit such giant variety of folks to return without delay in view the latest spike in COVID-19 circumstances within the nation.

While opening visa companies to Indians, China is but to announce plans to open flight services between the 2 nations.

Currently, solely diplomats between the 2 nations journey by means of the costly third-country flight routes.

However, China’s visa announcement has created hope that flight companies too could also be resumed between the 2 nations quickly.

In latest months, China has been allowing college students from some pleasant nations like Pakistan, Thailand, Solomon Islands and lately Sri Lanka to return.