Latest Information and Guidance For Travel To India

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The Indian government issued the latest advisory guidance for international travel to India that mandates all travellers to undergo home quarantine for seven days and undertake an RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in India.

Travellers are mandated to upload the results of a repeat RT-PCR test for Covid-19 done on the 8th day on the Air Suvidha portal. If found negative, they will need to further self-monitor their health for the next seven days. Those who test positive would be managed at an isolation facility and treated as per laid down standard protocol including contact tracing.

If those travellers who are under home quarantine or self-health monitoring develop Covid-19 symptoms or test positive for Covid-19 on re-testing, they will need to immediately self-isolate and report to their nearest health facility or call the country’s national helpline number (1075) or their state helpline number.

It has been made mandatory for all travellers to submit complete and factual information in self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal before their scheduled travel, including last 14 days travel and upload a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR report for a test conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare states airlines will allow boarding by only those passengers who have filled in all the information in the self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha portal and uploaded the negative RT-PCR test report.

At the time of boarding the flight, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening. All passengers are expected to download the Indian-government’s contact tracing app Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices.

On arrival, thermal screening would be carried out and those passengers found to be symptomatic during screening would be immediately isolated and taken to a medical facility. If tested positive, their contacts shall be identified and managed as per laid down protocol.

Travellers from specified countries-at-risk will need to submit a sample for post-arrival self-paid Covid-19 test at arrival and will need to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight. If tested negative they will follow the seven-day home quarantine mandate and take an RT-PCR test on the 8th day of arrival in India. As of December 9, 2021, the countries at-risk include countries in Europe including the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, Ghana, China, Mauritius, Tanzania, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and Israel.

International travellers arriving at seaports or land ports will also have to undergo the same protocol except that they will submit a self-declaration form to the concerned authorities of Government of India at seaports/land ports on arrival as an online registration is not available for such passengers currently.

Children under age 5 are exempted from both pre- and post-arrival testing. However, if found symptomatic for COVID-19 on arrival or during home quarantine period, they will undergo testing and treatment.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its latest guidelines clarified the new guidelines supersede all guidelines issued on the subject on and after November 30, 2021.

Here are the guidelines on travelling to India from key travel destinations including the U.S., UK, Canada, Singapore and Dubai.

Travel From the U.S. To India

Pre-boarding

Advising increased caution when traveling to India, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 1 travel health notice and the Department of State has issued a Level 2 travel advisory, which encourages U.S. citizens to exercise increased caution throughout the country due to possible risks to their safety and security.

U.S. citizens are advised to:

Travel to India for tourism and other short-term purposes resumed fully on November 15 for individuals holding tourist or e-tourist visas issued on or after October 6, 2021. The U.S. government states tourist visas issued before October 2021 will not be honored and travellers attempting to enter India using one of these visas are likely to be detained and returned to their point of origin.

Additional categories of travellers including certain business travellers, as well as individuals moving to India as residents, are permitted.

All international travellers arriving in India, regardless of vaccination status, must upload a self-declaration with a negative RT-PCR report to the Air Suvidha portal taken within 72 hours prior to departure for India.

On Arrival

All travellers will undergo thermal screening upon arrival in India.

Symptomatic travellers will be isolated and re-tested. Travellers opting to use the rapid test will be charged INR 3,500 and can expect to wait up to 1.5 hours after landing to depart the airport. Travellers opting to use a PCR test will be charged 500 INR and can expect to wait up to 5 hours after landing to depart the airport.

Travellers with negative tests will be required to home-quarantine for seven days, retest on the eighth day, and continue to self-monitor for an additional seven days. Travellers who test positive will be held in stringent isolation.

Travel Within India

Commercial flights are operating within India. A reduced number of international flight options are available and airlines may have strict policies regarding who can book or board these flights based on Indian government restrictions.

Individuals in public spaces without a mask could be fined as high as INR 2,000 for non-compliance. The amount differs from one state to another.

Travel From UK To India

All regularly scheduled international flights remain suspended. However, under a bilateral agreement between the UK and Indian governments, a limited number of flights between India and the UK continue to operate.

Pre-boarding

All travellers have to follow the general mandate determined by the Indian government. It includes a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal before the scheduled travel, uploading a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR report of a test conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey, a declaration with respect to the authenticity of the report.

You will not be able to travel if you’re showing coronavirus symptoms (you will need to self-isolate and travel later). Passengers need to comply with any additional healthcare screening measures put in place by the authorities prior to your departure.

On Arrival

Since the UK is on the Indian government’s “at-risk countries” list, travellers are required to pre-book their RT-PCR test and also required to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight. If the Covid-19 test is negative, travellers will be required to home quarantine for seven days. A further Covid-19 test is required on the 8th day of arrival in India. If the 8th day test is negative, travellers should self-monitor their health for the next seven days.

Any travellers testing positive for Covid-19 will have to undergo treatment and further monitoring at a separate isolation facility for a period of 10 days.

Travel Within India

Entry requirements may vary in different states for international and domestic air travel, and may include restricting entry for foreign nationals or mandating quarantine for international travellers. Entry requirements can change at very short notice. You should check with your airline before travelling.

All land borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal in East and North East India are closed for movement of people, except for returning Indian nationals.

Passengers may need to provide contact details and be asked to download the Arogya Setu app.

Travel From Canada to India

Pre-boarding

The Indian government has now made the RT-PCR test taken up to 72 hours prior to the departure time compulsory, updated from its earlier mandate for travellers arriving from Canada that did not require a test report instead travellers had to undergo a mandatory 14 days of quarantine upon arrival.

Both Vande Bharat Mission flights to Delhi and air transport bubble arrangements are available for passengers to travel to India.

All travellers have to submit a self-reporting form on the online Air Suvidha portal preferably 72 hours before the scheduled travel.

On Arrival

Passengers with covid negative certificate can travel in public transport including domestic flights to reach their final destinations.

Earlier only pregnant women, those who have suffered a death in the family, those who are suffering from serious illness, parents accompanied by children below 10 years and those with negative RT-PCR certificate were exempt from quarantine. This has now changed with the Indian government mandating a negative RT-PCR report, which makes 14-day quarantine null and void.

Travel From Singapore to India

Pre-boarding

As on December 11, India removed Singapore from the “countries at-risk” list and vaccinated passengers from Singapore are being allowed to travel to India.

India requires all international arrivals from Singapore to submit an online self-declaration form via Air Suvidha portal and have proof of a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test conducted within 72 hours prior to departure for India.

Travellers who have taken a Covid-19 RT-PCR in Singapore for overseas travel will receive a digital test result certificate from Singapore. Travellers have to digitally authenticate their test results with the help of the clinic and/or via Singaporean government website Notarise. All successfully authenticated digital result certificates are then converted into a QR code, which can be used during boarding and immigration clearance overseas.

Travellers who have generated offline QR codes before December 10 and are experiencing vaccination expiry date issues during verification are recommended to regenerate their QR codes on Notarise.

On Arrival

All passengers arriving from Singapore have to undergo a self-paid Covid-19 RT-PCR test at the airport and be tested negative before they can leave the airport.

The Singapore government has recommended its citizens to familiarize themselves with India’s Covid-19 restrictions including immigration procedures and entry requirements.

The government advises travellers to:

Travel From Dubai To India

Pre-boarding

International passengers from Dubai have to take a Covid-19 RT-PCR test before taking off. They need to submit documents including:

On Arrival

Upon arrival, all passengers need to follow the below mentioned instructions except those landing in Mumbai:

On‑arrival at Mumbai, passengers need to follow the below mentioned instructions:

Rest of the World To India

All the countries that have a transport bubble arrangement with India allow travellers to visit India. Besides U.S., UK, Canada and Singapore, the countries that have air bubble pacts with India include Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kuwait, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan.

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Aashika is the India Editor for Forbes Advisor. Her 15-year business and finance journalism stint has led her to report, write, edit and lead teams covering public investing, private investing and personal investing both in India and overseas. She has previously worked at CNBC-TV18, Thomson Reuters, The Economic Times and Entrepreneur.