HYDERABAD: Catching a Vande Bharat flight to the US with a valid H1B visa has become quite troublesome for many Telanganites hoping to return to the ‘promised land’ to resume work. Many people who are heading to the US on repatriation flights from Hyderabad had to face a volley of questions from immigration officials at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad and Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi despite having valid H1B visa status.
A couple from Hyderabad who work in Seattle told Express, “Immigration officers told us that people with H1B visas will not be allowed to fly as it had been suspended by the US administration. We had to update them that only the renewal and application of new visas have been suspended and that our’s was an active H1B visa. We had to face the same issue in Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi.
However, the immigration process in New York went smoothly without any hitch.” They were also told that post July 1, people will not be allowed to board Vande Bharat flights even if they have an active H1B visa. While sources from the US Consulate said that anyone having a valid H1B Visa will not be stopped, reliable sources from Air India said, “One of the issues for such resistance could be that many people who may be in-between jobs or without a permanent employment status are being questioned or disallowed, even if they have an active H1B visa.”