The Indian central government, on November 21, cancelled Air Suvidha forms for international passengers. Hence, the decision to discontinue the self-declaration form will begin on November 22.
The form has three main issues – a clumsy website, passengers unaware that filling up the form is mandatory, as well as unavailability of physical forms. “No one even checks these forms when you arrive at an Indian airport. So why have them,” asks Jyoti Mayal, President, the Travel Agents Association of India.
Air Suvidha is a contactless solution by the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India and Ministry of Health Family Welfare, which is facilitated by Delhi Airport for all international passengers coming to India. It is a self-declaration form for international arriving passengers.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the decision to discontinue the self-declaration form will begin on November 22.
Following the announcement, people flying into India from abroad will no longer need to fill out the Air Suvidha form from November 21-22 at midnight and will also not be required to take an RT-PCR COVID-19 test.
Passengers, including children of five years and above, had to get RTPCR tests before boarding a flight back to India since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK’s passenger locator form introduced in 2020 was scrapped in mid-March when the country withdrew its last few travel restrictions, including a COVID-19 test for arrival. In June, the U.S. rescinded its order requiring international travelers to produce a negative COVID-19 test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding a flight. Germany requires only passengers traveling from a country with a COVID-19 variant of concern to fill up the self-declaration form.
