Question : Air Suvidha Form

(a) whether the Government is aware of the hassles faced by international passengers with regard to the Air Suvidha form and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government is aware that the form mandates a specific format for uploading images, often requiring passengers to compress their documents like passport, an avenue not easily available to everyone;
(c) whether the Government is aware that these forms are often not even checked at arrival in the country;
(d) whether the Government has received representations from international industry bodies to withdraw the form and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether the Government proposes to ease compliance or withdraw the Air Suvidha form and if so, the details along with the estimated timeline thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION (GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD))

(a) to (e): The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) issues guidelines to be followed by arriving international passengers. These guidelines include submission of complete and factual information in self-declaration form and uploading a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report (for test conducted within 72 hrs prior to undertaking the journey) on the online Air Suvidha portal. The airport operators and immigration authorities have the mandate to ensure compliance to these guidelines. Information uploaded in Air Suvidha is used by the officials of MoH&FW for contact tracing and disease surveillance. Recently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation in consultation with MoH&FW has amended the guidelines which includes non-uploading of passport image etc. Only document to be uploaded in Air Suvidha is the Vaccination Completion Certificate or RTPCR negative test report. Most of the fields are menu driven for the convenience of passengers. Also, primary passenger can fill in the form for all co-passengers if the destination remains same. Withdrawal/continuation of Air Suvidha for incoming international passengers is within the purview of MoH&FW and the prevalent health condition monitoring guidelines.
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