Australia to India under Covid-19
Was born in a third-world country, but still never felt the heat due to the shade provided by my father. Father promoted idea of mine to move to Australia to enjoy a better life. It is the same father who is now giving up his strength to Cancer. I want to be by his side at this time of his struggle — to support him, to feed him, to hold his hand while he walking to the balcony.
The dilemma
But now, that 13 hour Air-India journey from Sydney to Delhi was no longer a cake walk. The Australia borders are closed — The Air India flight is no longer operating. A fear is settling-in before I travel — fear of taking COVID virus to my home; or becoming of a problem for them if i get sick due to it.
Couple of things that we decided:
- Complete my vaccination and wait for a week to build immunity — at-least it to make sure sick-me is not a burden on my family back in India
- Wife and kids shall not accompany me, as kids are not vaccinated and hence may not be good for them to travel
Exemption request
As a PR (or a citizen), it is required to take an exemption request before travelling outside Australia. Read the following URL carefully
Since the situation is changing so frequently make sure you are keeping a tab on every change on this page
Where to apply
The application can be made on following URL
Make a login for yourself and proceed with your application.
You should give just sufficient information to the officer in the form to cite your needs and prove that yours is a genuine case
Details for the request
At the time of writing there were two categories (Purpose of Travel ) that I could apply in
- travelling outside Australia for a compelling reason for three months +
- travelling on compelling or compassionate grounds
With information overload on this topic from everywhere it was difficult to decide which category. One such suggestion was to apply for compelling reason for three months +. But instead, we decided to apply under compelling or compassionate grounds.
You should fill in “Why you requesting for travel exemption” carefully. In one/two small paragraphs try to cover “why” part genuinely. I mentioned that my father is critically ill and his situation is deteriorating and I want to be with his side and support my mother for whom it is becoming difficult to manage therapies.
Declarations are taken by the government in the form itself ( check-box ); I did not submitted any separate declaration document in front of JP.
Attachments that I submitted were
It should be noted that passport copy was serving dual purpose — identification document for me and my relationship to person under the medical condition (i.e. my father ). I had also written this on Passport copy scanned page explicitly for reviewing officer easy check.
Yet another thing to note is what to mention in the recommendation from treating doctor. In my case, father was critically ill and hence the doctor’s letter was citing the same. In clear words — condition is critical and family should be round and that prognosis is poor.
Rest of the form was easy to go through
Travellers in request — since it was only me, I set Role in Travelling party as Sole Traveller and filled in my details
Outbound flight details — It asks for intended flight details; and hence you don’t really need to book flight tickets beforehand. My intended duration of stay was around 2.5 months and that’s what I demonstrated in my form. The outbound exemption is applicable only for three months ( from the date of exemption ), hence your intended travel-out date must be accordingly.
How much time it take to get exemption
It can take 2 weeks, but you generally the email of the exemption decision results in 2–3 days.
Flight Options
There were few considerations that went here
- What are options for one-way
- What are options for return ticket
Options for return ticket
All flights were showing return option after almost 3–4 months. while i was looking these options in July; the next available return ticket was in October via Japan with a long Transit wait time.
Then considering following updates from fellow Indians/ Travel agents, decided to go ahead with only one way
- The future is uncertain; airlines are cancelling flights as well. You might be blocking good money ( 6000 –10,000 AUD ) in case you book now and airline cancel return flight later. Not recommended.
- People are taking help from DFAT for the return, which might prove cheaper option. The 14-day quarantine might be in Northern territory, however it seemed (from one video of person who recently returned ) descent enough.
Options for one-way ticket
Whether you go through online sites ( like Expedia.com ) or go via your agent, there wasn’t much price difference. However, the agent might be giving you options that he might want to sell. So see through options online as well.
The options that seems reasonable
There were other options available but they were worse considering wait time at Transit points. To me best option was Emirates and hence went ahead with the same.
While booking the ticket there were few other things you may consider to check
- What is the weight limits: Pretty much all allow 25-30 kg check-in baggage, and 7 kg Cabin baggage
- Flexibility to change / cancel tickets: The extra money been asked was way too much to keep this flexibility in your tickets.
Prepare for your travel
While look for all documents to carry on day of travel, later in this blog — there are couple of things you should work on before travel date
- Aarogya Setup Application on mobile. Basically a contact tracing application by Indian government. Easy installation, but need to register the application with an Indian number. It will send OTP on registered mobile, and OTP never comes to Australian number.
- PCR test before the fight. A proof that you don’t have COVID when you are flying. Australia govt needs this test to be performed no earlier than 48 hrs before departure. Indian Govt wants this test should have been performed no earlier than 72 hours before reaching India. I was flying on Saturday 9 pm, and gave my swab on Friday 9 am to 4Cyte. They email the results in 24 hours to your designated email address. 4Cyte is a paid service you can pay (120 AUD) and book online. Shall note: the details shall be as per your passport as they mention the same in their report. Not all 4Cyte perform this test. If in hurry, better go to their Ryde collection office.
- Self declaration form is required by Indian Govt. Should be filled at https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/apho-registration
On the day of travel
Reaching to airport
Work this out earlier to be honest. Have heard that a lady had tough time in reaching airport as she was in Red Zone and No Taxi driver was ready to take her from Red Zone to Airport. The options to her were first going to last train station in Red Zone, hop on train station in Green zone and carry forward her journey again. She eventually got some cab to help her out to reach straight to airport; but learning was that make sure you have this arrangement done already.
I myself was in green zone and my wife dropped me to airport.
At the airport
It is like a dead place.. the hustle of Sydney airport is missing. No one moving the cars in kiss-and-drop parking slots, no one to help pedestrians cross the road; in fact no pedestrian. The shops are pretty much closed – and only at one end there was a bit of queue towards Emirates check in counter.
Wearing of face mask is mandatory at airport, so make sure you carry one.
Before the actual check-in/ baggage drop/ boarding pass; the queue gets interrupted by couple of Emirates staff who are checking your documentation
- Aarogya setup app installed
- Self declaration print
- PCR test report print
- Exemption grant (email print) from Australian Govt
A slip hence is issued stating that the person has checked all these documents. We then have to take this slip to the check-in counter. The check-in counter person checks Passport, the slip and checks all ( or some ) documents again.
Once check-in is done; till the boarding only passport and boarding pass is checked. No one checked other extra documents at-least for me after this point.
After boarding
The arrangement is pretty much taken care of to promote social distancing. Boarding is slow, as people are maintaining distance; and one row ( 3 contiguous seats ) has only one person seated. Its only known/family members who are seated together.
You are given a surgical face mask and a 30 ml hand sanitiser tube. Whole crew was wearing face mask and PPE suite. The PPE suite was sort of disposable one which allows them protection with a little bit of comfort. Passengers were urgent to wear the face mask all time ( obviously except during dinner/drinks )
At the Transit airport
Once you get down to Dubai airport, things slowly start turning towards normal. People are mandated to still wear face mask — however the transit bus was hardly maintaining any social distancing rules. People were not pushed though, but still there was sufficient standing in the bus.
A security check-in of you is done before you reach area taking care of Connecting-flights. Security check-in is pretty normal — no-one checking any PCR or other paperwork.
After long, Dubai airport presents a new normal. Hustle-and-bustle of Dubai airport with masked travellers around ( again mandatory ) is stark opposite to Sydney Airport. All shops are open — Candy shop, Food bazaar, Cafe, Gifts and what not. A long airport I must say; and it took me time to reach at the other end.
After nearly 3.5 Hrs of wait, can see that queue has started building up at the boarding gate. But its moved very very slow, and people barely maintaining social distancing in queues, although it was well maintained on the seats where it was explicitly marked which seats can be used.
Once you finally reach the boarding gate — you are asked about PCR and Indian Self-declaration print out again along with Passport and Boarding pass. They make some entry in their system based on your self-declaration form. Remember to pick a free face-shield (if you don’t have one) at the boarding gate, it’s mandatory to wear one in the plane.
In the plane, seating arrangement has a bit of change. There are now two people sitting in one row ( i.e. 3 consecutive seats ). A face mask and a hand sanitizer is given to all passengers in the plane and you are expected to wear face mask and shield for whole flight duration.
At Delhi Airport
Once you off-board the flight — before reaching the immigration counter you will face two things
- Check of Self-declaration print
- COVID test
Self declaration is checked on your way to COVID test setups. One person is just having a quick look at the print-out. Just follow the directions or queue to reach to COVID testing desks. There are around 10–12 desks where you can queue up to make payment ( 500 INR ) cash or by card and get yourself tester. They will need an Indian phone number where your test report will be sent. They need your boarding pass and passport details while booking the test for you. This step in total take around 30 mins.
Once test is given, the testing person stamps your invoice with Sample Collected. You need to show the stamped invoice to couple of policemen while going to Immigration counter. The immigration step is no different from past — they check only passport and boarding pass.
Past the immigration
Came to India after around 2.5 years, was feeling good — but at the same time feeling tensed about family. At the time of writing the number of new cases in Delhi were 66 and in Sydney 284 — is it the reason that face mask of people were hanging around their neck and no social distancing were required ?
Anyways, i came to meet my father and rushed to pick the luggage and move out of Departure gate to meet my sister waiting for me.
