Travel Rule changes being made to travel from India to Canada are too late for hundreds of International Students who have already started their fall semester. These students have paid 4 times the price to travel to Canada.
21 year old Rohan Syal, an international student paid $4000 Canadian on a 50 hour one way journey from Delhi to Vancouver. This doesn’t include the layover hotel costs in Doha where he had to get another PCR test within 72 hours of getting one in Delhi. From Doha he headed to Frankfurt and then final leg to Vancouver.
20 year old Dhruv Patel paid $4800 and for his journey which started in Mumbai on August 27th and completed on his arrival in Vancouver on August 31st. He travelled through Paris and then got another PCR test in Mexico where he waited for test results before he could embark on his final leg of the journey. It was essential for these young men to reach Canada in time to find housing, get settled and start their in person classes at the University of the Fraser Valley. This one way ticket would have cost them $1000 under normal circumstances but the Co-vid travel rules from India not only suspended direct flights from India but also wanted passengers tested in a third country before arrival. As such innovative travel agents carved out high priced unpredictable routes for desperate students who had already paid about $18000 per year in tuition fees to study at a Canadian Institution.
According to a press release from transport Canada, direct flights from India to Canada resumed today.
Travelers eligible to enter Canada will be able to board direct flights from India to Canada with the following additional measures:
Travelers must have proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test from the approved Gene strings Laboratory at the Delhi airport taken within 18 hours of the scheduled departure of their direct flight to Canada. Prior to boarding, air operators will be checking the travelers’ test results ensuring they are eligible to come to Canada, and that fully vaccinated travelers have uploaded their information into the ArriveCAN mobile app or website. Travelers who are unable to meet these requirements will be denied boarding.
We can argue the math and science of whether the restrictions were necessary or the most effective. Many feel there is lesser exposure on direct flights and India’s testing is as reliable as some of the third countries from where these tests were conducted. Many carried the risk of testing positive in a 3rd country and be charged extra for quarantine. Perhaps a system where they could be tested upon arrival would have been most effective.
Most cannot argue that a lot of International Students are further out of pocket when the burden of international education is already very heavy for them.
