Tag Archives: United States

Under the current Presidential Proclamation, student visa holders from India are able to enter the United States if their classes start on or after August 1, 2021. The United States, however, will not approve exceptions for F visa holders with a programme start date before August 1, 2021. Students with valid F-1 and M-1 visas intending to begin or continue an academic programme commencing August 1 this year or later do not need to contact an embassy or consulate to seek an individual National Interest Exception to travel.

The countries that have seen the most flight bookings to India for the period around Diwali are the United States (32,828), the United Kingdom (22,663) and the United Arab Emirates (20,688) until October 14, 2019, according to an analysis conducted by Travelport. This data is derived from Travelport’s interpretation of relevant MIDT data. It reflects bookings made as of 14 October 2019 through GDS only, a channel primarily used by travel agents, for flights to India (the destination) between 24 and 30 October 2019. Additional bookings will have been made directly with airlines, which may or may not also have a GDS presence. On a volume basis, the Americas saw the most travellers flying into India (49,157; or 32% of total bookings made in the top 10 countries), followed closely by the Middle East (44,831; 29%). Europe (30,354; 19%) and the Asia Pacific (29,093; 19%) rounded out the list.

The Ministry of Tourism has clarified that the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India from the USA during 2017 have registered a positive growth of 6.17 per cent over 2016. Since 2010, the number of FTAs from the USA in India has never declined. However, it is observed from the report of National Travel & Tourism Office (NTTO), USA, that the outbound tourists from the USA to India have declined by 7 per cent in 2017, as compared to 2016. The figures of outbound travellers in the report are 1,195,000 and 1,111,000 for the years 2016 and 2017, respectively. In the said report released by NTTO, it is also mentioned that traveller volume is based on the US Department of Homeland Security Advanced Passenger Information System wherein all airlines are required to electronically submit passenger data on flights arriving into and departing from the United States. Thus, it is obvious that the source of data for the report is only airlines reporting. In the cases where direct flight between the USA and India is not operating, it is not known whether the final destination is reported as India by the passengers. Moreover, departures at international check posts other than airports are not captured in the report.

Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have announced a further expansion of their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, which will make it even easier for guests to tailor their trip by combining flights from Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines in a single booking. From April 19, 2017, Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can connect through London Heathrow on to nine US destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic; Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. This expansion builds on the existing agreement between Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic in place since 2009 – enabling Virgin Atlantic guests to travel on Jet Airways operated services between Mumbai and London Heathrow in addition to the airline’s own direct Delhi to London service. In 2015, this codeshare was extended on to Jet Airways domestic services allowing Virgin Atlantic guests to travel between London Heathrow and five destinations across India via Delhi or Mumbai. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways, said, “Offering greater choice and connectivity to our guests has always been a hallmark of our network strategy. The new codeshares build on the success of our ongoing cooperation with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic over London Heathrow and will provide our guests with more connectivity to and within the United States. Further, our loyalty program partnership will also enable the frequent flyers of both carriers to accrue and redeem their miles across each other’s entire network.”