Indian students in Korea feel pinch due to soaring airfare

A foreign visitor waits to take a COVID-19 test before entering Korea at Incheon International Airport, Jan. 23. The government intensified quarantine regulations on visitors to control the cross-border spread of the Omicron variant. Yonhap

Homesickness, travel restrictions following suspension of Korea-India non-stop flights trigger misinformation over visa rules

By Lee Hae-rin

People living in foreign countries to study, work or for various other reasons, have been suffering from the fallout of the pandemic which has entered its third year without any visible signs of an end in the foreseeable future due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Some feel very homesick because of travel restrictions following the suspension of non-stop flights to their home countries.

Indians living in Korea are one of the groups of people who are finding it tough to travel back to their home countries after the outbreak of COVID-19 three years ago. Non-stop flights between the two countries were suspended in March 2020, while there are few signs of them resuming in the near future. India is one of the 25 countries that saw non-stop flights to and from Korea get suspended after the outbreak of COVID-19.

On top of the pandemic-driven travel restrictions, Indians, particularly those who are here to study, have been feeling the pinch due to soaring airfares.

"All their savings are spent on just making one round trip visit because the flight tickets cost somewhere near 1 million?to 1.5 million won one way," Kislay Kumar told The Korea Times. "This means that a couple with one child making a round trip between Korea and India has to spend around a minimum of 6-9 million won."

Thus, many people who want to go home had no choice but to stay here for the past two years because of expensive airfare, according to Kosame Saikiran, an Indian national studying for a master's degree in Korea.

Transit flights through Dubai and Doha also leave the passengers more vulnerable to being exposed to the virus during the long layover.

Domestic airplanes are parked at Incheon International Airport, Oct. 10, 2021. Newsis

As of 2021, nearly 10,000 Indians are living in Korea on various visas.

The mounting anxiety and complications during the pandemic seem to have triggered the spread of misinformation within the foreign community regarding Korea's border control and entry regulations.

"(We are told that) only some particular visa holders, like people who have either an F-6 visa -― the marriage visa ―- and if I'm not wrong, some long-term visa holders are allowed (to board on a flight to Korea)," an Indian national said, asking not to be named. "(I heard) that happened in June 2020."

"So many chartered flights which fly from India to Korea can only have a few visa holders. They cannot have everyone on the flight. So these are the restrictions that we are going through and these people are left to travel via Dubai and Doha," he said, adding that the soaring prices of chartered flights are a major concern.

What the source said was inaccurate. Airlines denied such regulations had ever been imposed on visas. Carriers follow the government's regulations on entry, transit and quarantine and have never placed restrictions on particular visa holders of Indian nationality, an official at an airline told The Korea Times.

The Immigration Contact Center of the justice ministry confirmed this, saying there has been a temporary restriction on foreign nationals entering Korea after transiting through nine African countries when the Omicron variant started to spread. But India has not been subject to the restrictive regulation.

The Embassy of Korea in India said it follows the visa regulations set by the justice ministry and has been restricting the issuance of short-term visas for tourism and visits since the outbreak of the COIVD-19 pandemic. Long-term visas, on the other hand, are being issued just like pre-pandemic times.

"The restrictions on the issuance of short-term visas are seen necessary to the country's quarantine policy against the coronavirus and are expected to return to the original state once the pandemic situation improves," the embassy said in an email interview with The Korea Times.

The foreign residents and authorities alike wish for the resumption of direct flights between the two countries. Since 2021, India has been signing air transport bubble agreements with major partnering countries, including Japan and the United States, to bring back direct flights. But Korea has not signed the agreement yet.

However, it remains to be seen if airfares will return to "reasonable" levels that passengers remember from the pre-pandemic times, even when the direct flights resume.

The recent rise in airfares is universal and resulted from changing supply and demand conditions, according to the airline industry. The demand and availability of international travel have gone down, while the airlines face operating costs that remain constant.

"The airlines need to follow the posted price set by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, thus cannot raise the fare arbitrarily," explained an airline official who wished to remain anonymous.

"The fare has not been raised over the posted price by the transport ministry," said another employee from a domestic airline. "When the demand for international flights was high before the pandemic, there were several promotions and discounts available that offered a wide price range to customers, which are no longer available. Therefore, the airfare could seem even more expensive from a passenger's point of view," the airline official added.