Will The US Introduce An India Travel Ban?

This travel ban is totally racist and unscientific. Vaccines provide protection against variants too. After all it’s same virus it’s not something new. But excluding Indians who may not be j texted with the variant, while white nations allow travels between themselves is a racist policy. It needs to be exposed. Biden should be condemned just like Trump was condemned for racist travel ban.

It seems that many racists are posting here under assumed Indian names. Their stand is totally unscientific and xenophobic.

Wow, so many Indian commenters on this thread with a kick-the-ladder-behind-me mindset. Other than isolated incidents and hearsay, there's no evidence that Indians in the US behave with a lack of caution. If anything, asians in general and Indians in particular have the highest vaccine adoption percentage in the US. Its also important to note that at its peak, the daily per-capita death rate in the US was FOUR times the current daily death rate in India. Moreover, the CURRENT daily per-capita death rate in the US and India are pretty much the same: about 3 per million. All the self-identified Indians on this thread clamoring for a travel ban should have logically fled the US a long time ago. Maybe its time to examine your own internalized prejudices. Food for thought.

@Concerd wow! I think you’re either having a panic attack or you’re really scared. Either way chill and just stay home if you’re so scared. I’m a foreign journalist living in India and am certainly much more relaxed than you are.

And with regards to someone commenting on death versus hurt feelings: I don’t think there is any fear that the U.S. is suddenly starting to care about anyone’s feelings. In over twenty years as a journalist, my observation has been that the U.S. has mainly been a harbinger of death worldwide. In that respect, I am surprised that other nations haven’t banned U.S. travellers permanently.

US just issued a travel restriction to India. A little too late but whatever. They still have 4 days to get here. Can’t imagine how crowded the flights will be to get here. I hope they strictly enforce a hotel quarantine direct from airport not self isolation. I know Indian people ( not all) are not at all disciplined wearing masks or social distancing and having a conscience about not spreading to others. I know this because I am Indian. If they really cared, things would not be in this situation now. France already has Indian variant community spread. All had a negative test when they boarded flight from India. I’m very scared just thinking about the crowded people walking out of airport and happily mingling into our community.

@Concered. Yes Tourist and Medical visa holders were barred entry into India. But US citizens entering India under any other category of visa including business, work, education, diplomat and emergency have been permitted entry. This was even during the US surge where the per-capita infections and deaths in the US were much higher than the current India situation. I understand your disappointment at being denied entry with a tourist visa, but it's completely not true to say that only Indian citizens and OCI holders were granted entry.

At the very least, the quarantine should be strictly enforced and severe consequences should be imposed for skirting them. That is something that can be done immediately and by local government. Other countries have done the same with police and military. If we do not have the capacity, then we should not allow because that only further states that we should close the borders.

This is not about politics. This is about science. If this virus spikes the US, inherently, there will be even more variants. Then the vaccine effectiveness issue comes back. Then we’re back to lock down in the US.

Personally, I’m not interested in going back to the S show that we had earlier in the year.

@Trent
My comment was directed at the USCIS employee who commented that the government was not stopping flights because of H1B visa holders. By no means am I questioning the contribution immigrants have made to the United States. Google, Microsoft and many other high tech companies have Indian CEOs. I was simply pointing out that stopping flights while the pandemic is exploding in India cannot be offset by a few H1B visa holders who will temporarily disadvantaged. I was referring specifically to those who would not be able to travel right now if a ban was put in place, by no means am I referring to those already here nor those coming in the future. I apologize if you thought my intent was different. Too many times during this pandemic the government seems to have put economic interests above those of public health. I look to China with its 1.4 billion people where life was back to nearly normal in less than three months without vaccines. For months they even banned foreigners with Chinese residency from returning.

@Alan - I support the thought around temporary travel restrictions but I find the latter portion of your comment quite intriguing. Do you have evidence to support the contributions of Indians and other minorities to our economy? Have you studied the impact on intellectual property, technology, finance and healthcare? Last I checked, immigrants contributed excess of USD 2 Trillion to the US economy and the majority of that contribution was attributed to Indian immigrants. Indians continuously outperform the majority of the population in terms of economic contribution. According to the US Labor statistics, Indian IT companies contribute in excess of USD 60 Bn annually to the US economy. I totally agree that IT companies have managed to WFH but those in the areas of science and technology cannot do experimentation and research away from their labs. I am sure our narrow minds cannot perceive the impact of the last right now, but give it a few years. Disclaimer: my pharma company has several Indian scientists and I feel that I should defend them on that last bit of your comment because it's wrong and frankly an ignorant comment.

Going back to the topic of travel, I think we should ban all travel indefinitely since there will never be 100% certainty that any of the vaccines will continue to provide immunity against new and developing strains. I also think that we should consider walls that go so high that no commercial aircraft can enter nor leave the grandest nation of all! Why would Americans need to travel abroad and leave their safe homeland anyways?

Here's the absolute worst news of the day:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/air-india-us-nonstop-frequency-to-be-back-to-pre-covid-level-soon/articleshow/82297240.cms
Air India will now have 32 daily flights to the US; so much for the USCIS employee who thought it was related to those with work visas!
An Indian friend provided the following assessment:
India is like if you have the money to fly go abroad and don’t overload our system
Does anyone on this forum agree with this?

Just to be safe than sorry, US should ban all people originating in India to arrive in US unless they been in another country past 14 days. Until things improve there or we are 100% certain Indian variant will be neutralized by our vaccines. Simple.
Just curious, why are we cutting so much slack to Indians? Are they such super species that won’t carry or spread virus?
Btw, Iam Indian too but still don’t understand this logic or not taking steps to protect America from this dangerous virus.

@Vivek
I am an American of Indian descent. Thank you for your help when we needed it. We are returning the help also on a humanitarian grounds which every human should do. But what is the need for wealthy or anyone to holiday or run away to other countries when things get bad at home? Its not about border closing. People should have a conscious and stay home not to infect others. Its a personal moral obligation. Heard, in India they fake PCR test and also even if they test positive they turn off their phones and disappear into societies untraceable.

Its nothing to do with trade. Cargo flights should be allowed. We are talking about unnecessary travel and exodus from India to US here. Almost Every country is barring flights except us. US consulates still issuing visas in India. I just dont understand. This is a pandemic and it will be Dejavu all over again. Its only a matter of time the Indian variant will become dominant here in NY. Very sad

The fact is that border closures are much more about politics than anything else. In a time of crisis, isolationist policies are rarely helpful. Furthermore, it is apparent that a complete closure of borders with India will have a detrimental impact on the global economy - regardless of how one feels about that. Without airlines flying between the two countries, movement of key essential goods will be hampered. Airlines also cannot afford to fly empty buses. Last year, when the US required aid, I donated 730 oxygen concentrators for use by US hospitals. The logistics of those shipment were a nightmare since there was barely any movement between the two nations. It is with that in mind that I am grateful that we are not at a complete border closure between the two nations.

Watching all of the news reports and not seeing much social distancing, and the figures, we’ve got to close the US borders for anyone that is originating from India until there is more control. The under-reporting of both cases and deaths by not only the news but all over twitter should justify that we cannot trust the tests that are being done. Banning flights and Indian passports - i disagree - while there are ways around it, it’s going to send a message and if people to come into the country illegally, they will be deported. Further, you don’t think that immigration has the flight records tied to passport?

The self quarantine is not working and a joke. We need to do as other countries where people are escorted to hotels at their own expense, and quarantined and tested regularly by the US at the travelers expense. And, if possible, make the airlines test people before boarding. It only takes 1.

To the point someone made about India making vaccines, not entirely true. Pfizer vaccine is being produced in the US by 3 locations. Moderna made an agreement that will produce in either NJ or PA shortly. These plants are expected to produce enough for the US population and possibly more. The original location for Pfizer was in Germany - Biontech. I think many Indian companies may be scared that countries will build their own capacity and then leverage for other vaccines and remove the reliance.

*******I would say that travel ban makes a little to no impact. *********
I would recommend
1. They could do a series of tests proving that they were not impacted by COVID from past whaterver maybe 2 or 3 weeks
2. I would never impose a travel ban for people not impacted by COVID as families are separated during this difficult times, they are not going for a vacation it could be an emergency they had to visit their home country. So we need to stand together.
3. Important - Countries who are now well balanced with covid situation need to help out the countries which are running out of options.
4. Dont forget INDIA is the largest manufacturer of the vaccine and its helping out the WORLD right now and it also needs a hand.

I think travel bans are reciprocal, and therefore political in nature.

Keep in mind that India didn’t ban flights from the US when the US was clocking over 300,000 new cases a day back in January. The EU hasn’t banned flights from India either- and nor did India ban flights from the EU once air bubble agreements were signed.

Therefore, why should the US ban flights from India? I think flights should continue to be allowed but with safeguards in place such as PCR tests, quarantine on arrival etc.

@Tim Dunn +1

The reality is that the majority of the world's vaccines are being produced in India. If the US were to shut down travel to/fro US, it would be a political blunder at a time when the US depends on India. The Serum Institute of India, along with smaller players, are basically producing the majority of the vaccines that the rest of the world are receiving. This includes vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer/Biontech, Astra-Zeneca/Oxford, Bharat Biotech, and Sputnik. Travel to/fro India is at a minimum. No need to create political tension when so much depends on the industries here.

@Ben (Lucky)

I don't think comparisons are quite so direct. There are significant restrictions in place within India. Travel is not encouraged at this moment, except for critical cases. Cases continue to surge within the country, but majority remain asymptomatic. While everything you have said remains true, there are significant hurdles to go to through for travel, including testing within 72 hours ahead of the landing time at the destination along with registration on a portal for further verification. At the moment, the vaccination drive is at full steam with two vaccines on offer - Covishield from Astra Zeneca/Oxford and the Covaxine from Bharat Biotech. Both are reporting similar levels of effectiveness. However, some recent reports suggest that the indigenous vaccine is more effective against the latest strains. A ban on travel to/fro India is imminent and practically already in place with local authorities.

Certainly my view is that the USA should also be placed on the red list alongside India with few exceptions requiring emergency travel. Number of COVID positives in the USA still remain remarkably high.

It is very bad in India but it was just as bad in Brazil but is slowly improving. The difference is that there is an English press in India while there is only minimal translation of Brazilian news into English.
High case rates foster viral mutations. The US and the world has an obligation to help India and Brazil and anywhere else that has massive outbreaks.
Those that talk about masks and gatherings have no clue about the population density in most of the world including Brazil and India.

"last summer Germany had among the lowest coronavirus cases, yet Germans were banned from traveling to the US" You mean the Germany that is currently in lockdown? Thank goodness they didn't throw open the doors to Germany.

I think they should close the borders to India and should do so immediately. With all those cases they are definitely going to be generating new variants that can put the US at risk. With the UK given their numbers are way down I think they can start talking about vaccinated travel. As numbers come down in the rest of the EU vaccinated travel makes sense as well. Brazil is still way too risky.

One issue that hasn't come up so far is what has happened in Australia. Yes it's very hard to get in even for citizens though we do offer goverment charter flights in addition to normal flights ( heavily restricted arrivals unless your a movie star!). All flights require a negative Covid test before departure and on arrival ,(lets just disregard the quarantine adpect) the charter flights arrive at an Air Force base in the middle of the Outback with a 40 min flight to Darwin, a recent arrival from India all presented negative tests on departure but on arrival 47 tested positive! This is about a 9 hour flight, the Goverment believe that these negative tests were faked and is investigating further. While have yet to ban flights from India the number of flights has been greatly reduced, there wasn't that many to start with! The BBC has been reporting that wealthy Indians are leaving on chartered aircraft on mass to where ever they can go, this would of couse depend on what passport they are using. The issue is faking a covid test is one thing ( picked up by testing on arrival ) but what about a vaccine certificate??? It's not just India we have also picked this up on normal arrivals but not every flight but most flights have a few who test positive on arrival. If you don't test on arrival your asking for it.