The Union home ministry on Friday issued a notification allowing Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders from the US, the UK, France, and Germany, with whom India has signed bilateral air travel arrangements, to enter the country.
Other citizens of these countries can apply for Indian visas for business, medical and employment purposes while Indians can also travel there on any visa type.
India has signed so-called air bubble arrangements with the US, UK, Germany, and France for bilateral air travel amid international travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
A bilateral air bubble refers to a travel corridor between two countries that wish to reopen their borders and re-establish connections with each other.
International flights to and from India were suspended since March 23 as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world.
The notification said for Indians travelling to these four countries, it would be the responsibility of airlines concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction on their travel with a particular visa category before the issue of tickets, and boarding passes.
It added the existing restrictions on incoming passenger traffic into India through the immigration check posts will not apply to any movement of cargo or goods and supplies in any vehicle, aircraft, ship, train, etc along with their crew.
The government in June allowed certain categories of foreign nationals, including OCI cardholders to enter India. They included foreign nationals married to Indian citizens.