Govt plans to resume Tourist Visas after 1.5 years of suspension due to Covid

New Delhi, Sep 15: The Central government is planning to resume issuing tourist visas, nearly 1.5 years after it was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to news agency ANI, a senior MHA official confirmed that things have been formalised and a meeting has been called in the Ministry of Home Affairs that will be chaired by the Home Secretary on Thursday to discuss plans to resume tourist visas.

It will be done in a phased manner and as per the feasibility, it will be open to all, the official added.

As per latest updates, the Central government is likely to allow only vaccinated people to apply for tourist visas.

All such travellers will, however, have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding quarantine and other health/COVID-19 matters.

While the restrictions on visas were imposed following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in February, commercial flight operations were suspended when the nationwide lockdown came into effect on March 25.

However, the government has been allowing limited operations of Air India flights under the ''Vande Bharat'' mission for certain categories OCI and PIO card holders and those Indians who were stuck due to COVID-19 outbreak since June.