Synopsis
Husbands and wives, mothers and fathers separated from each other and from their children; jobs, careers, and mortgages jeopardized, and schooling thrown out of whack.
Representative image
Pankaj Patil lost his father, a retired government official in Nashik, to Covid-19 on April 2. He rushed home from US, where he works as an IT professional on an H1B visa, to be with his mother. With his wife Kavita expecting their second child at their home in Connecticut, Pankaj, with all his work and travel papers in order, hoped to take his mother back with him to help navigate what doctors have said would a high-risk pregnancy because of high sugar and thyroid fluctuation.
Representative image
WASHINGTON: Pankaj Patil lost his father, a retired government official in Nashik, to Covid-19 on April 2. He rushed home from US, where he works as an IT professional on an H1B visa, to be with his mother. With his wife Kavita expecting their second child at their home in Connecticut, Pankaj, with all his work and travel papers in order, hoped to take his mother back with him to help navigate what doctors have said would a high-risk pregnancy because of high sugar and thyroid fluctuation.
On April 30, just before Pankaj was to travel back to his wife and six-year old daughter Aarushi, the Biden administration announced restrictions on travel from India to contain Covid-19 variants from entering the US.
US exempts categories of students, academics, journalists from India travel ban
Premium
(AP)
Lalit K Jha
, PTI
According to the State Department, the travel ban exemption is in line with a similar exemption that the US has granted to some categories of travellers from Brazil, China, Iran and or South Africa
Share Via
Read Full Story
Certain categories of students, academics, journalists and individuals have been exemption from the India travel ban announced by President Joe Biden, the US State Department said.
The exemptions were issued by Secretary of State Tony Blinken, hours after Biden issued a proclamation restricting travel from India beginning May 4 because of the extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the country .