15.24 lakh foreigners visited India in 2021; highest from US, followed by B'desh

Over 15 lakh foreigners including 429 lakh US nationals and 24 lakh Bangladeshis had visited India last year when the country was on an extended period of coronavirus restrictions and visa regulations officials saidTen countries accounted for 7439 per cent of the total arrival of foreigners during 2021 while 2561 per cent of the incoming foreigners were from the rest of the nations a home ministry official saidA total of 1524469 foreigners visited India between January 1 and December 31 2021The maximum number of foreigners who visited India during this period were from the United States 429860 followed by those from Bangladesh 240554 United Kingdom 164143 Canada 80437 and Nepal 52544As many as 36451 citizens from Afghanistan 33864 nationals from Australia 33772 from Germany 32064 from Portugal and 30374 citizens of France visited India during 2021 the official saidAlso Read Indian Railways to serve food that will please both palate and needsAll international flights were suspended during the nationwide lockdown which was first announced in India from March 25 to April 21 in 2020 due to the Covid19 pandemic and it was extended thrice till May 31Even though the government had announced gradual reopening of various activities from June 2020 many restrictions continued for the remaining months of 2020 and a few months in 2021Scheduled international flights from India to international destinations remained suspended for two years from March 25 2020 till March 27 2022 During this period international flights were operated only under the airbubble arrangements the official saidThere were visa restrictions too on foreigners travelling to India after the coronavirus outbreakIn order to control its spread the home ministry took a series of steps to curtail the inward and outward movement of international passengers both foreigners as well as Indians in a calibrated manner since February 2020With the phased unlocking in India the central government has relaxed the visa and travel restrictions in a phased manner since May 2020The Ministry of Home Affairs MHA had issued orders on October 21 2020 permitting following categories of foreign nationals to enter India by water routes or by flights including those under the Vande Bharat Mission or air bubble bilateral air travel arrangements scheme or by any nonscheduled commercial flights as allowed by the Ministry of Civil AviationThose who were allowed include Overseas Citizen of India and Person of Indian Origin cardholders holding passports of any countryAll foreign nationals intending to visit India for any purpose including their dependents on an appropriate category of dependent visa except those on tourist visa were also allowedIn March 2021 the MHA restored eVisa regime with all the subcategories except etourist visa for the nationals of 156 countries Subsequently from October 15 2021 tourist and etourist visas were also allowedRestrictions imposed on incoming passenger traffic into India through the authorised airports and seaports immigration check posts for all categories of foreign nationals who are permitted to enter India or those who may be permitted to enter India in future were removedThe evisa facility with five subcategories etourist visa ebusiness visa econference visa emedical visa and emedical attendant visa had been extended to nationals of 171 countries for entry through 28 designated international airports and five major seaports in IndiaIn addition to the facility the government has extended the visaonarrival scheme to nationals of Japan South Korea and the United Arab Emirates with double entry for a period not exceeding 60 days for business tourism conference and medical purposesPakistani nationals above 65 years of age who cross Attari immigration check post on foot are also granted the visaonarrival for 45 days of stay with single entry subject to certain conditions another official saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever