#OSAMyFamily – Covid-19 Evacuation Updates

Updated: 6/15/2020

Latest Update From CGI on 6/15/2020

===========================================================================

The Odisha Society of the Americas has been reaching out to Consulate General of India office to help the family members of the Odia community, who wish to travel to India during current limited airlines operations due to Covid-19 situation. Please remember that the Consulate General Office is only arranging this mission “Vande Bharat Mission” as a special evacuation arrangement during this exceptional condition. Hence qualification criteria and preferences based on criticality of the situation have been set by CGI. For latest update, please visit consular website: https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/ . You may follow the updates on twitter @IndianEmbassyUS

OSA as an organization has been able to bring a collective strength for the community in front of the embassy to help families from Odisha to have an exclusive flight destined for Bhubaneswar on May 28. This exceptional trip was successful due to many of you reaching out to OSA by providing information. OSA has been since updating CGI office with any incoming information to accommodate more and more Odia families to any future evacuation flights. CGI office is actively working on plans in phases to evacuate as many people possible. There are currently about 40,000 people across USA who have registered to avail this evacuation service. The CGI office is going to work with Air India as well as other air lines to provide all the registrants an update on the next plan. CGI office expects everyone to register at the following portal to stay updated.

https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/reg_indian_nationals.

Please follow the following post to stay last minute update from the embassy office.

The Latest Flight Plans 

OSA Executive team is continuing to work with CGI office to push for as many Odia families to accommodate into these evacuation flights. Please provide your name, passport number and reason showing criticality of your travel plans in an email to acovisa.cgisf@mea.gov.in and copy osaec@odishasociety.org . OSA Executives would follow up with CGI to get update on these requests.

Few FAQs we have received in last few weeks.

  1. My Visa is expiring soon, how can I travel to India as soon as possible ? In many cases end of visa is an avoidable situation. USCIS allows overstaying if you can apply for extension of visa citing this extra ordinary circumstance. You do not need an approval to stay, you may stay just by filing timely. Also it is rather better option to stay in USA in many cases to avoid safety concerns and logistical challenges. For more info – https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/covid-19-delays-extensionchange-status-filings . Please consider, comparing the cost of ticket rebooking etc. with cost of extending visa before making a decision.
  2. What are the qualification criteria to make it to these evacuation flights ? There have been 40,000 applicants for the evacuation program. Hence CGI is currently shortlisting people based on criticality of the reason to travel.
  3. Are passengers boarding direct flight to Bhubaneswar going to be quarantined at Delhi during transit ? No, the passengers were provided special arrangement to transit from aircraft in Delhi to another one from Delhi to Bhubaneswar and were allowed to self quarantined at their houses in Odisha.
  4. Are there more flights designated direct to Odisha ? Not planned so far. To be able to operate a flight to destination through an international carrier, CGI needs at least 150 passengers who can commit to a destination. As such, the evacuation flights currently are destined to major cities, which can serve more people in need.
  5. What travel restrictions and advisories we should be concerned about from the government of the United States? Please follow the official info at : https://in.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/covid-19-information/
  6. Are there flights from east coast scheduled soon ? CGI continues to take a stock of locations requests coming from. So far there is a 3 phase plan, with current phase ending by June 15. The next phase yet to be published post June 15th. Please keep an eye on updates from CGI – The Latest Flight Plans 
  7. Where can I book flights ? Air India now is open for booking through these evacuation flights. Please visit http://www.airindia.in to book your tickets.

 

 

 

 

Share This