Due to the ease with which it can be obtained, e-Visa is becoming more common. But there are still many airports around the world that don’t have the facilities for scanning the same. And recently, a UK traveller got deported to Dubai from Indore Airport in India as he was carrying an e-Visa. Here’s what happened!
A UK Traveller Got Deported To Dubai From Indore Airport
Recently, a UK passenger was deported to Dubai from Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport on Monday, 20th February. The traveller, a British citizen, arrived at the airport from Dubai on Saturday, the 18th of February, carrying an e-Visa. However, the airport didn’t have the facility to scan e-Visas, and as a result, the passenger was not allowed to leave the airport premises. This is the fifth such passenger arriving from Dubai with an e-Visa, out of which, only one has been allowed to leave the airport after receiving special permission.
The British Citizen Had Arrived For Professional Work Purposes
The British citizen arrived at the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport on the Air India flight AI-904, which landed at 5:40 pm on Saturday. During the checking process, when the foreign national produced an e-Visa instead of a physical one, the immigration team stopped him.
As reported by MSN, James Michael Griffin, 58 years old, had travelled for some work related to his IT company. Once he was informed by the immigration officials about the lack of scanning facilities, the passenger called some people. But no solution could be found! He was then informed that he’d have to board a flight back to Dubai, as he wouldn’t be able to leave the airport. So, the UK passenger was deported to Dubai from Indore on Monday by flight AI-903 at 5:10 pm.
A Lesson To Learn
An important lesson can be learnt from this incident. Since e-Visa is a fairly recent facility, it’s important to check if the destination airport has the scanning facilities for this or not. Not to mention, K Jose, chairman of the MP Chapter of the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) also stated that this duty falls on the airlines. This means they should also diligently check and inform the passengers about the e-Visa facilities at the destination airport. This will certainly save them from unnecessary hassle!
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons