Indian travellers are no longer banned from entering France, as the latter has put the country on its yellow list due to decreasing COVID-19 infection rates in India, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Following the decision, the visa centres in Delhi and Mumbai have now started accepting all visa categories applications. Also, children arriving from India will not be required to get quarantined upon arrival to France.
However, travellers coming from India have to fall under one of the following categories in order to be permitted to enter the country:
- The traveller has to be fully vaccinated with one of the European Medicines Agency authorised vaccines, such as Pfizer/ Comirnaty, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Vaxzevria/Covishield, and be a holder of a D-type Schengen visa valid from three to five years.
- Seven days must have passed since the traveller received their final vaccine shot.
- The traveller must provide a vaccination certificate, proving he/she doesn’t have any infection symptoms.
- The traveller is unvaccinated or vaccinated with yet to be approved vaccines, including Covaxin.
- The traveller holds a ‘talent passport’ or is a student or researcher. However, they must present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours or a rapid antigen test 48 hours before departure.
As SchengenVisaInfo.com reported in May, the European Commission came forward with a proposal to apply an “emergency brake” for unnecessary travel from India, as an effort to prevent the B.1.617.2 variant, first detected in this country.
The European countries decided to follow this advice, starting with Italy which extended its entry ban for Indians for another three weeks.
India also struggled with the CoviShield vaccine since EMA didn’t approve the vaccine, thus the majority of European countries did not permit entry for travellers vaccinated with the Serum Institute of India (SII) manufactured vaccine to enter their countries.
After SII CEO Adar Poonawalla insisted on taking the matter to higher instances, the World Health Organisation decided to approve the vaccine, and following this decision, 15 European countries recognised the vaccine, such as Germany, Belgium, and France.
Prior to France, Germany relaxed its entry restrictions for Indian travellers, as the European Union officials, travel and tourism sector organisations, and students and employees from the concerned countries urged the German government to lift its travel ban.
The latest data published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that India has reported 415 deaths caused by Coronavirus and 29,689 positive cases with the virus. Since January 2020, the country has experienced 4,170,155 deaths, and 31,440,951 people were infected with the virus.
India is implementing its vaccination campaign, with 25.6 per cent of the population being vaccinated with one dose of COVID vaccines and 7.1 per cent being fully immunised against Coronavirus.
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