The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) released an updated travel advisory for India on 17 July, adding several new entry-requirement notes that will be of particular interest to corporate travellers and expatriates. The notice formally recognises India’s recently launched electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) card as a valid travel document, eliminating the need for physical booklets for new applicants. In addition, the advisory highlights fresh public-health protocols—compulsory Ebola virus screening for passengers arriving from affected African regions and a mandatory online Self-Declaration Form (SDF) for all international arrivals. While the risk of Ebola in India remains low, the Ministry of Health has adopted a ‘zero-importation’ stance following isolated outbreaks in Central Africa. Travellers originating from or transiting through high-risk countries must undergo thermal screening and may be asked to provide a detailed itinerary and recent contact history. Failure to submit the SDF at least 72 hours before departure can result in denied boarding or long queues at immigration counters, adding an avoidable delay for business travellers with tight schedules. The e-OCI recognition is expected to streamline frequent travel for India-origin British citizens and long-term residents who previously had to carry both a lifelong OCI booklet and their foreign passport. Under the digital system, status verification will be done via a QR code scannable at all 108 Immigration Check Posts, matching data stored in the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) system. According to India’s Bureau of Immigration, more than 6,500 e-OCI cards have been issued in the first fortnight since the national roll-out on 8 July. The FCDO retains its longstanding warning against all travel within 10 km of the India-Pakistan border, citing security concerns, and flags the likelihood of flight delays stemming from Middle-East airspace closures. UK businesses with operations in India are advised to re-check employee travel manifests to ensure compliance with the SDF requirement and to brief travellers on the possibility of extended processing times at busy hubs such as Delhi and Mumbai. Travel-risk consultants suggest that organisations update their internal travel policies to reflect the new e-OCI acceptance and to monitor Ministry of Health bulletins for any expansion of the Ebola-screening list. The SDF platform has occasionally experienced outages during traffic spikes; contingency plans such as screenshots of submitted forms and hard copies of confirmation emails are therefore recommended.
Source: GOV.UK – Foreign Travel Advice
