The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Friday that Indian visa or the stay stipulation period of foreign nationals stranded in the country due to the Covid-19:

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Friday that Indian visa or the stay stipulation period of foreign nationals stranded in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic will be valid till August 31. Accordingly, these foreign nationals will not be required to submit any application to the FRRO/FRO concerned for the extension of their visa till that period or until further orders. Visa Extension for stranded Foreign Citizens Also Read - ISRO to Assist Development Projects in Northeast India

Through Space Technology The MHA said that due to the non-functioning of normal commercial flight operations on account of the pandemic since March 2020, a number of foreign nationals, who came to India prior to March 2020 on valid Indian visa, have got stranded in India. Keeping in view the difficulties being faced by such foreign nationals in getting their visas extended in India due to the lockdowns, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order on June 29, 2020, conveying that Indian visa or stay stipulation period of such foreign nationals expiring post June 30, 2020 shall be deemed to be valid until 30 more days from the date of resumption of normal international flight operations, on gratis basis. Also Read –

However, such foreign nationals have been applying for extension of their visas or stay stipulation period on a monthly basis. "The matter has now been reconsidered by the MHA in the light of non-resumption of normal commercial flight operations, and it has accordingly been decided that the Indian visa or stay stipulation period of such foreign nationals stranded in India will be considered as deemed to be valid till August 31, 2021 on gratis basis without levy of any overstay penalty," the MHA said.

Such foreign nationals may apply for exit permission to the FRRO/FRO concerned before exiting the country, which would be granted on gratis basis without levy of any overstay penalty. (IANS)

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The home affairs ministry has urged the public to delay application for national documents – due to rising Covid-19 cases – that are not urgent.

The ministry has over the past three weeks recorded 10 positive Covid-19 cases among its staff at different offices countrywide. 

Therefore, the ministry implored the public who want services but which are not urgent, to stay at home until the situation normalises.

The ministry’s executive director, Etienne Maritz, yesterday said new measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of staff and the public due to the increasing number of new positive Covid-19 cases within the ministry and countrywide.

“The ministry is trying to minimise the number of people queuing at our offices. However, those who are in urgent need of national documents are still welcome and they will be assisted as usual,” Maritz said.

Asked for clarity as to what is referred to as urgent national document applications, commissioner for refugees Likius Valombola explained urgent applications will be processed in case of death and urgent travel documents.

Others include documents needed for social grant purposes for orphans and vulnerable children, documents for academic purposes, as well as municipal services, among others. 

“We have taken Covid-19 seriously since March last year. We introduced a health guideline at all our offices, where we explained all about Covid-19 and its regulations. Issues of mandatory wearing of masks and hand sanitising are also emphasised. We also sent out a circular to strengthen new measures in view of cases of Covid-19,” Valombola stressed.

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The inbound travel trade celebrated today (June 9) following news that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has moved South Africa from risk alert Level 4 to Level 3.

This follows the landing of the first daily United Airlines flight from New York Newark to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo on Friday (June 4).

The CDC has eased travel recommendations for more than 110 countries and territories, including moving 61 countries from Level 4 to Level 3. This risk-level rating recommends travel for those US citizens who have been fully vaccinated.

According to a Reuters news agency report, the US State Department said many countries had lower ratings "because of the criteria changes or because their outbreaks are better controlled”.

MD of Cape Xtreme Adventure Tours and Cape to Addo Safaris, Barry O’Donoghue, told Tourism Update any move to a lower risk rating would instil confidence in prospective travellers for a destination. “Those who were previously cautious will be more reassured,” he said.

O’Donoghue is currently running three- to five-week adventure tours in the Garden Route for a group of over 200 students from the US. “Some are back home already without incident and they were all highly impressed with the high standards of health and safety protocols,” he said.

Most of the group had been vaccinated but the PCR tests and the protocols practised had given them all peace of mind, O’Donoghue added, highlighting that the success of the US vaccination roll-out would encourage more travel from the US.

Onne Vegter, MD of Wild Wings Safaris, agreed with this assessment, noting that a recent group of US tourists he hosted had also commented on the stringent enforcement and compliance of these protocols by all travel suppliers.

“One woman told me she felt safer in South Africa than she did in the US because we had such strict protocols ensuring her safety.”

He told Tourism Update that most of the enquiries he had had to date were from the US and most of the tourists he had hosted since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic were from the States.

“I expect this to increase with this latest announcement,” said Vegter, adding that United’s new direct daily service to Johannesburg was another competitive advantage. “The Qatar flight via Doha was always full and many have now moved their flights via Europe to the United flight.”

O’Donoghue noted that for his group it was a challenge that there were no direct flights to Cape Town, which meant a lot of juggling and additional expenses but they managed with a few from Europe.

And, Vegter added, another major advantage for the US market was that there was no quarantine imposed on travellers arriving back from South Africa.

‘There is still scope for improvement around the narrative’

While O’Donoghue noted that there also seemed to be less concern about the new variants than there was in other key source markets, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, did express concern that the US State Department was using the same narrative for South Africa as it did for Alert Level 4.

The US State Department advisory reads: “Reconsider travel to South Africa due to COVID-19. Exercise extreme caution in South Africa due to increased crime and civil unrest.”

Tshivhengwa told Tourism Update that while there was crime in South Africa, very few tourists had been directly affected. “Plus, we have invested a lot into addressing this issue and will continue to do everything possible to keep tourists safe.”

According to him, crime is also driven by socio-economic conditions that arise when jobs are lost in a key economic sector such as tourism. “We need tourists to create jobs and the more jobs we can create the lower our crime rate will be.

“So the narrative has to change to instill further confidence in Destination South Africa.”

Tshivhengwa said there was ongoing engagement with the US Embassy, who would advocate for South Africa’s risk level rating to be further reduced and for the narrative to change.

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The extension will be done automatically and at no cost to the visa holders

On Tuesday, King Salman has directed authorities in Saudi Arabia to automatically renew the validity of residence permits (Iqama), exit and re-entry visas of expats stranded abroad until July 31, 2021.

The General Directorate of Passports has therefore begun automatically renewing these visas at no additional cost to the visa holders.

The residence visa related extensions will only be granted to expats from the 20 countries, the list of which was announced on February 2, from where entry is into the kingdom was suspended as a result of the virus, confirmed state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The 20 countries include, UAE, Germany, USA, UK, South Africa, France, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, Swiss Confederation and Turkey.

In addition, the validity of visit visas for visitors who are in the countries from where entry is suspended as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic will also be extended until July 31.

As of June 8, the kingdom has reported a total of 459,968 Covid-19 cases, including 1,261 cases detected over the previous 24 hours.

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Citizens of Cyprus, Sweden, and Lithuania can now enter Portugal without being obliged to follow quarantine rules upon their arrival, as the latter’s authorities have lifted such a measure for these three countries after estimating that they have recently reported fewer COVID-19 cases of infection.

Portugal’s government has updated the list of countries subject to quarantine rules based on their COVID-19 infection rate, according to data provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The list as it is will be valid until June 14, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

According to a statement published by the country’s government, Cyprus, Sweden, and Lithuania have recorded an incidence rate of COVID-19 infections of less than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks.

The same announcement emphasizes that flights from South Africa, India, and Brazil would be permitted to operate for essential reasons; however, passengers arriving from these territories will be obliged to follow quarantine rules when entering Portugal.

In addition, Portugal’s government announced that essential travel would also be allowed from all countries that are considered safe, upon the recommendations of the European Union.

Citizens planning to travel to Portugal by air will be required to present a negative result of the Coronavirus test, not older than 72 hours, in order to be permitted to enter the country. If they do not comply with such a requirement, they risk facing a fine of between  €500 to €2,000.

“The restrictive air traffic measures are equally applied to the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and crew of cruise ships in ports located in mainland national territory. These measures may be revised at any time, depending on the evolution of the epidemiological situation,” the statement reads.

Last month, authorities in Portugal opened their doors to travellers from the EU and several non-EU countries, including the United Kingdom ahead of the summer season.

Such a decision was announced by the country’s tourism website Visit Portugal, which clarified that all persons arriving from Britain must prove that they have tested negative upon their arrival.

The Coronavirus pandemic has, among others, caused a devastating situation for the Portuguese Air Transport (TAP) between March 19 and June 30.

In this regard, the European Commission previously approved financial support of €462 million for the airline, under the EU State aid rules, to help the airline recover from the damages caused by the virus.

Portugal is the 30th most affected country in the world by the virus. It has reported a total of 849,093 COVID-19 cases of infection and 17,025 deaths.

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