Over 25,000 Indian expatriates in UAE register to go home ​ ​

Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

More than 25,000 Indians living in the UAE who wish to travel back to India under COVID-19 situations have registered through the website launched by the Indian missions to collect the database of such Indian nationals.

The embassy of India, Abu Dhabi, and Consulate General of India, Dubai, launched a dedicated website to prepare a database to register Indians wishing to travel back to India under the COVID- 19 situation late on Wednesday.

Due to sudden surge of applicants the website available at, http://cgidubai.gov.in/covid_register/, several applicants faced problems. Following which, the Consulate General of India in Dubai urged residents through twitter to not rush to register as the database will be up for several days.

"We are getting several thousand hits on the website for registration and have already registered close to 25K people. We request everyone to not rush to register today itself. The database will be up for several days.”

"People wishing to register may follow the link http://cgidubai.gov.in/covid_register/, pls bear with us if it takes some time for the page to load due to high traffic,” stated the consulate’s official twitter account.

Indian expatriates can enter the details through the website of the Embassy www.indembassyuae.gov.in or Consulate www.cgidubai.gov.in by following the link "Register in Database of Indians to Travel Back to India under Covid-19 situation.” These can also be entered by following the link www.cgidubai.gov.in/covid_register.

The data to be entered is simple and does not require any uploading of documents. Some fields are mandatory which include important details such as passport number, mobile number and address of the individual in India. In case of families each member will have to fill up the form separately. Similarly, employees of a company will also need to fill the form separately.

The purpose of this form is only to collect information to enable the Government of India to plan for the return of Indians from abroad under the present Covid-19 situation.

"It is clarified that registration with the Embassy or Consulate will not entitle automatic allocation of seat on a flight to India. The main objective of the database is to estimate the number of people who wish to travel to different parts of the country so that appropriate planning could be done to receive them in India and take all precautions to avoid the spread of Covid-19 disease,” stated the press note issued by the mission.

The conditions for travelling on flights back to India will be notified later. The returnees will have to abide by all rules and regulations of Government of UAE on departure and Government of India on arrival.

The Indian missions also urged the entire Indian community to follow the social distancing norms under COVId-19, and they should not visit the Embassy/Consulate or our outsourcing agencies and Indian Associations for clarifications or registration and utilise the electronic medium for this purpose. Any clarifications may be sought trough Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra Toll Free number 80046342.

Those who are unable to fill their forms by themselves can take the help of Indian community organisations.

"Further updates on travel back to India will be made available through our website and social media channels as and when decisions are made in this regard. We appreciate the patience of all Indians and also thank the local authorities for all their help to the Indian community in this pandemic situation,” stated the press note issued by the mission.

This registration of database brought hope to thousands of Indians living abroad to return home as India braces for life after the second phase of lockdown ends on May 3. However, many of them are not much hopeful as the expected number of NRIs who wish to return may increase dramatically in the next few days.

Media reports from India have suggested that the government may use Indian Navy and Indian Air Force to evacuate NRIs from the Gulf countries, however, no official confirmation has been issued so far.