On Monday, China introduced the plans to issue visas to hundreds of Indian students abandoned at home for over two years due to Beijing's strict COVID restriction, besides various categories of travel visas for Indians, including business visas. Ji Rong, Counsellor, Department of Asian Affairs, posted a tweet that said- warmest congrats to #Indian #Students! Your patience proves worthwhile. I can share your excitement and happiness. Welcome back to #China!

Her tweet mentioned detailed information from the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi announcing the opening of visas for students, business persons, and families of those working in China. According to the announcement, X1-Visa will be issued to students who plan to go to China to seek long-term study for higher academic education, including newly-enrolled students and students who want to return to China to continue their studies.

More than 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine, are reportedly punched back home due to COVID visa restrictions. India has submitted a list of several hundred students after China pursued the names of those wanting to return immediately to seek their studies. Some students from Russia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and other countries have arrived on chartered flights in recent weeks.

The announcement posted on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Delhi stated that student visas will be issued to the newly-enrolled students and the old students who couldn't travel to China due to COVID visa restrictions. While the new students should have an original admission letter issued by a university in China, the old students require to submit a Certificate of Returning to Campus allocated by the university in China.

As per the information by the official sources, over 1,000 old Indian students have expressed a wish to return to re-join their studies. It is to be seen whether the universities- processing their requests would allocate the certificates for them to apply for visas. Another problem was that there are no direct flights from India to China. For the first time in over two years, a chartered flight hired by Indian businessmen and their families reached the Chinese city of Hangzhou recently.

In July, China allowed the family members of Indian professionals to work. Several reached via the third country routes paying several times higher than the regular ticket rates. Chinese and Indian officials say that talks are on between the two countries to re-continue flight operations.

The classification of visas announced by the Chinese embassy in India on Monday included C-Visa allocated to crew members. Other categories introduced by the embassy included M-Visa issued to those who desire to go to China for trade and commercial activities. The other was F-Visa given to those who intend to go to China for study tours, exchanges, visits, and other non-commercial activities. The last one was Z-Visa for those who want to work in China. Other category permits included visas for the dependents of those who currently work in China.

News Source: Times Now