On June 22, as unemployment touched the highest-ever numbers on record in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump issued a proclamation to temporarily suspend H-1B and other work visas till the end of the year.
The airline has operated six flights under VBM from Ras Al-Khaimah, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam so far.
Air India is currently the only foreign air carrier of India that holds the Department authority to conduct operations to/from the US with its own aircraft and crew.
Apart from Air India flights, repatriation has also been arranged through other streams, including Indian Naval vessels, which have brought back Indian nationals from Sri Lanka, Maldives and Iran, chartered flights and through land borders.
According to the regulations issued by the Indian government last month and updated last week, visas of foreign nationals and OCI cards, that provide visa-free travel privileges to the people of Indian-origin, have been suspended as part of the new international travel restrictions.
The relaxations came in the view of the coronavirus pandemic, which first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last.
The matter was raised by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen E Biegun on Wednesday.
Even as the peak of coronavirus in the US is some two weeks away, millions of people in the US have already lost their jobs.
In the American capital of Washington DC, more than 500 Indian Americans marched from a park near the White House to the Gandhi Statue in front of the Indian Embassy.
The death toll from the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China has risen to 25, and the number of confirmed cases was now 830.
