The Government of India announced it Unlock 3.0 strategy yesterday.One of the points under the “Guidelines for Phased Reopening” stated that thatthe government will allow the “international air travel of passengers aspermitted by the MHA”. This probablycomes as a big relief for the immigration industry that has been struggling tostay afloat since the nationwide lockdown and the ban on international travel.
The immigration woes began in late March this year when thegovt. announced to implement a strict nationwide lockdown in which allindividuals would be barred from leaving the precincts of their individualresidences moreover, all businesses were asked to shut down their operationsuntil further notice. The Prime Minister had announced a lockdown till the 14thof April to prevent the spread of the virus and break its chain. During thattime, most businesses expected it to last less than 2 weeks but little did theyknow that the lockdown would eventually last more than 2 months.
During the process, the medium and small immigration enterpriseswent completely out of business, with many deciding to close their doors permanently.The larger organizations had the capital to survive however, they too didn’tescape unscathed. Many employees working in these organizations were eventuallyrelieved of duty while the others that managed to survive being “axed” wereforced to work on a 50% pay cut.
The IELTS institutes had it worse, especially those organizationsthat solely depended on the IELTS examinations and didn’t provide visaservices.
Universities overseas had provided international studentswith the option to enroll online with some Canadian educational institutions goingas far as stating that even if they completed 50% of their course curriculum intheir home country; it wouldn’t affect their post graduate work permit (PGWP).
The decision to permit international travel will come as amajor relief to not just the Indian immigration industry but to internationaleducational institutions simultaneously. Each year, immigration addsapproximately 40 Billion Dollars to the Canadian economy and 35 Billion Dollarsto the UK’s.
As per reports, Canada, Australia, and UK, three of the mostpreferred destinations of international students, stated that this year, theywouldn’t accept any applications from Chinese students.
A major percentage of students enlisting in educationalinstitutions in Canada, UK, and Australia are Chinese nationals and after theirrecent decisions to bar them from enlisting, Indian nationals have a better chanceat visa approvals since Indian’s rank second when it comes to enlisting ineducational institutions overseas.
There is a high probability that within the next few days orweeks, IELTS institutions and Visa and Immigration offices will be allowed tocommence operations as it is highly likely that VFS centers will follow suitein reopening their offices.