International travel during the pandemic: Travel to India

While traveling internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to monitor the changes in lockdown status in various places, local regulations and travel requirements. I travelled to India from the USA recently and this blog post outlines my whole experience from the institutional quarantine details, covid test requirements to the actual flight experience. If you are planning a visit to India or looking to travel internationally or just want to know how international travel currently looks like, keep reading!

Step 1: Research the covid restrictions specific to your destination

With the rules and regulations changing constantly and new lockdowns emerging everyday, make sure to research thoroughly on your destination. Even different states in the same country have different requirements and these requirements may vary based on your source location as well. So take all these things into consideration while planning your trip. I took a flight from Chicago, USA to Dehli, India and below mentioned are the steps for this route.

Step 2: Covid Test

Based on the government orders, overseas passengers have to take a covid test (RT-PCR) prior to departure or immediately upon arrival (available in select airports in India) to avoid a 7 day institutional quarantine in a hotel. I chose to take my test in the USA and this test had to be done within 72 hours prior to departure. A test done before 72 hours of departure time will not be considered valid.

I got my test done exactly 72 hours before departure and got my results (negative of course) in 24 hours. If you are curious about how the covid test is done, it is a very quick one with the nurse taking swabs from either your nose or your throat. It last for about 3 seconds and is slightly uncomfortable, but not painful (I was super scared to take the test 😮 ). I would recommend taking the test in your source country before flying as the covid test in the Indian airports upon arrival takes a long time and involves you waiting in the airport for 8+ hours.

Step 3: Exemption from Institutional Quarantine

Once you have your negative covid test results, it is important to do the following 2 steps to avoid the institutional quarantine upon landing in India.

Fill the Exemption Form: Head to the Air Suvidha website and fill in the exemption form attaching your negative covid results report. It takes anywhere between 3 and 24 hours to receive the exemption form from the officials directly to your email. Make sure to fill this form immediately after receiving your covid negative results to give sufficient time for the response. Also, take a print out of this form as the officials stamp this upon arrival in India.
Fill the Self-Declaration Form: You will also have to fill the self-declaration form that is available on the Air Suvidha portal as well. This form can be filled anytime before your departure and has no time restrictions. Take a printout of this form too.

If you choose to test upon landing in India, you can use the Air Suvidha portal to book a RT-PCR test as well.

Step 4: Airport and Flight Experience

Our experience in the Chicago airport was very smooth and seamless. Make sure to arrive a little early to give yourself ample time in case of any additional airport checking. The airport wasn’t very crowded and social distancing was maintained by everyone.

All international travel passengers are given an entire PPE kit including a full body gown, face mask, face shield and hand sanitisers. It wasn’t a very pleasant experience wearing the face mask and face shield for 14 hours during the flight but these are important to ensure everyones safety.

A pre-packed box with food and snacks was already placed on our seats before we entered the plane to avoid multiple touch-points with the flight attendants. One hot meal was served about 6 hours into the journey. I would recommend you to carry your own food if you are not a fan of cold sandwiches or wraps (I am definitely not!). Also, make sure to carry your own headphones and entertainment for the flight (books or tv shows) as there isn’t any in-flight entertainment (or limited entertainment in a few flights).

Upon arrival in India, our negative covid results and the exemption certificate were checked and stamped. Everything else was very seamless and event-free.

Step 5: Travel Responsibly

Most important of all the steps is to be responsible and considerate of the safety of yourself as well as others. If your state has any home quarantine rules, make sure to follow them. I hope this post provides the information you need to plan your international travel to India. Do let me know if you have any questions about travelling to India, RT-PCR testing, the air suvidha forms and/or specific questions related to the pandemic flight experience.

ABOUT ME

Hello, I am Deeksha! A passionate Instagram travel & lifestyle blogger, sharing my experiences and travel tips from across the globe. The Travelista Tales is the visual expression of my travel tales, personal style and lifestyle picks. Believing in the motto of ‘Dream, Discover & Explore’, my goal is to create an interactive and engaged community of travel lovers.

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