Amid travel restrictions, parents opt for charter flights, detours to see off their children in US

Team Udayavani, Jun 16, 2021, 9:52 AM IST

Parents of the student who are all set to join college this fall (July and August) are leaving no stone unturned to be able to see off their children on campus, even if it means spending a month abroad or traveling around half the world.

Yes! In one such example a well-known builder, whose child will join the University of Southern California this August, has decided to take a chartered flight to Dubai and after spending a fortnight there, the family will enter the US to drop the student at his university in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, some other parents who have businesses in Dubai are staying put there and heading to the US from there. The trend of dropping off their children is very popular, especially among the parents of the thousands of undergraduate teens who head out every year.

It may be recalled that the US suspended entry by non-immigrants who had been in India in the preceding 14 days on May 1. Students wanting to enter or return to the US were exempted. Washington also kept its doors open for ‘persons of national importance’. It wasn’t long before desperate parents started applying for visas under the category.