Here Is How Indian Seafarers Can Register With MEA For Evacuation Under Vande Bharat Mission

As the seafarers are stranded all over the world because of the global travel restrictions, thanks to the deadly coronavirus, governments all around the world are trying to develop procedures and plans to bring their seafarers back. 

Amidst all this, Indian seafarers recently got a slight ray of hope as India’s Shipping Minister declared that stranded Indian seafarers will be evacuated through Vande Bharat mission flights. While different sources are reporting that the stranded Indian seafarers will need to register themselves with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to be eligible for sign off, the seafarers and their families are clueless about how to proceed with the said registration.

So, let’s have a look at the steps the Indian seafarers needs to follow to get themselves registered with MEA for Vande Bharat Mission

• First of all, the seafarers and their families have to keep one thing in mind, i.e, there is no separate module for the seafarers registration on MEA website. This means that if a stranded Indian seafarer wish to register him/herself for evacuation under Vande Bharat Mission, s/he will have to register in the same way as other stranded Indians in foreign countries.
  

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• Open the MEA website https://mea.gov.in/
  

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• Scroll down to find Indian Missions Abroad, or you can directly access the Indian Missions Abroad module by typing https://mea.gov.in/indian-missions-abroad-new.htm in your web browser.
  

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• In the new screen, select the country you are stranded in, either by clicking on the map or by selecting the country from the alphabetic list of countries.

• Once you select the country, on the next screen you will get the details of the Indian Embassy in that country, you will also be able to see the website of Indian embassy in that country on the same page, click on that. We have selected “Australia” to show you an example, see image below.

• Once you click, the website will open in a new tab. Here you will get all the required information and procedures to register yourself for Vande Bharat Mission in that country. You will get all the required numbers and email addresses from here. Just follow the links and instructions to register yourself for evacuation under Vande Bharat Mission. The procedures may differ in each country, so follow the instructions you get on the official website of Indian embassy of that country, see image below (example country- Austalia):