Evacuation Drive: NRIs’ Children With OCI Cards Not Allowed

Several Indian-Americans, H-1B holders, or Green cardholders in the US having their children who were born in America, are not allowed to travel in special evacuation drive organized by Air India flights. The drive is meant to bring back the stranded ‘Indians’ in the US and this is leaving many Indian families out in the US for their kids born in the US.

The coronavirus travel restrictions are allowing only limited flights to bring back the Indians and the strict policies are being followed, so as to see that the needy and eligible gets to travel first. The special repatriation flights would not allow any foreign nationals and OCI cardholders.

This has become a double bummer to many Indians on H-1B visa in the US, also lost their jobs, and had to travel back to India before 60 days. But the hiccup has come in the form of rejection to OCI cardholders for those having children born in the US.

The Indian-Americans who were caught in this jam, are asking the Indian government to reconsider their decision. And at the same time, they have been making appeals to USCIS to extend the permissible stay from 60 days to 180 days after a job loss.