Stranded in US, students with OCI cards desperate to head home

OCI card-holding students arriving at the Kempegowda International Airport by Vande Bharat Mission flights from the United States. Special arrangement

The United States Department of Transportation (USDT) has just made hundreds of US-based Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card-holding students extremely anxious. Its decision to scrutinise all Vande Bharat repatriation flights and allow only those on a case-by-case basis has left them edgy, desperate.

Students lucky to catch the available flights and reach Bengaluru over the past few weeks are relieved. But they are also deeply worried about their friends and classmates, stuck back in the United States. Now under institutional quarantine, they are getting frantic calls for help in flights, documents and more.

Back in the city after a gruelling 16-hour flight from San Francisco, Economics student Reva Bhargava knew it would be tough. She recalled the series of documentation, an unannounced flight detour to Jaipur and rules that kept changing. “I had called Air India, and was asked to fill out indemnity, deportation and mission-related forms.”

Stranded in the US, many of Reva’s classmates are eager to get home and be with their parents. “Conditions in the US are getting worse. Without insurance, healthcare can get very expensive. In many cities, only grocery stores are open, and elderly people are preferred.”

Their stress levels rising, many parents of stranded students formed a WhatsApp group to exchange information and keep everyone updated on the changing rules. “We mobilised people with mixed profiles, all of whom had children studying in the US, to get rules that did not initially allow OCI students,” a parent, Subashree told DH.

Relaxation in rules

It took a massive push by the parents’ group to get the Centre to relax its rules and accommodate OCI card-holders in the Vande Bharat flights. “Then came a rider that the parents had to be Indian passport holders. I had to write to the OCI director, tweet to the home minister, sending details of multiple cases to eventually get relaxation on this rider,” recalled Subashree.

Trouble had started in March when the campuses shut down in the US. “The students, many of whom were staying in the campus, had nowhere to go when India banned international flights. A few students got hosted by friends and relatives, but the majority was desperate to return.”

Limited direct flights from San Francisco and Chicago to Bengaluru and other Indian cities gave them hope. But for many, returning home has triggered another anxiety. “Some colleges are going online, but many others want to reopen on campus. Students here are also worried about getting back.”