IATA says, India Suspended Tourist Visas Issued to Chinese Nationals

Global Airlines Body, IATA has told its member carriers that India has suspended tourist visas for Chinese nationals. India has been taking up with China the plight of the nearly 22,000 Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities who are unable to return for physical classes. However, China has refused to let them inside till now.

Those students have to leave their studies and come to India when the Covid-19 pandemic started. The International Air Transport Association said in a curricular issued on April 20 regarding India states that tourist visas issued to nationals of China are no longer valid. 

An MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi said on March 17 that India has urged Beijing to adopt a "congenial stance" on the matter as the continuation of the strict restrictions is putting the academic careers of thousands of Indian students in jeopardy.

He also said that a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson had stated that China was looking into the matter in a coordinated manner and that arrangements for allowing foreign students to return to China were being examined.