Flights & transit visas: How Indian missions in GCC are helping Indians get back home amid surging demand

NEW DELHI: With the Israel-Iran war escalating by the day, Indian missions in West Asia including Qatar, Bahrain and UAE are trying hard to get as many compatriots out of there as possible. While Bahrain has no aerial connectivity since Feb 28, Doha and UAE have a few flights.

But since they are clearly nowhere close to the demand of travel given the fact that over a crore Indians live and work in Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain, — these missions are coordinating with the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia and Oman (for those in UAE) to get transit visas so that people can fly out of Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh and Muscat.

But given the constraints amod the war, Indians in GCC are feeling the heat. “I had applied for Saudi pass (transit) visa for self, wife and our toddler on March 2. That has not come so far. I keep buying Qatar Airways tickets for Delhi flights but have been unable to fly out. Each time there is an explosion, our child gets very scared and we have a tough time comforting him,” said a Doha-based Indian.




According to the aviation ministry, over 1.5 lakh people have flown from GCC to India between Feb 28 and March 11. Indian carriers resumed Riyadh flights from Thursday, with Day One seeing four flights by Air India, IndiGo and AI Express.

Aviation analytics company Cirium says between March 6 and 12, Dubai International (DXB) has seen maximum departures for India at 167 with Mumbai seeing the highest at 62, followed by Delhi at 56; Hyderabad at 25 and Bangalore at 24. India has for years been the biggest market for DXB.

The Indian embassy in Qatar said on X Thursday 1-2 flights “of Qatar Airways are expected for India daily in the coming days.”

“Indian nationals wishing to travel out of Qatar continue to have the option of either taking the limited number of flights operated by Qatar Airways or exit through Salwa border to Saudi Arabia if a valid Saudi visa is available. We continue to facilitate temporary transit visas valid for 96 hours for Saudi Arabia for Indian nationals who were on visit visa to Qatar and wish to leave via Saudi Arabia,” it said.

The UAE does not have regular flights and is giving slots to airlines as per availability. India is trying to get as many slots as possible but the demand is way too high.

People who have managed to get home recount their ordeal as well as the pressure under which Indian missions staffers in GCC are working. “The situation at Saudi embassies is crazy in other GCC countries. Indian embassies are coordinating getting Saudi trasit visas which is a big help. We are really thankful to out embassy officials in Bahrain in helping our Saudi visas,” said an Indian who returned to Mumbai on Thursday.

The embassy in Qatar has set up a war room from where requests for getting confirm seats on Qatar Airways flights or Saudi visas are being handled.
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