Over 2.5 lakh Malayali expatriates stranded in various countries have registered online for returning to the state soon after the central government gives approval and flight services resume. A large section of these expats is from UAE. It is learnt that around 35,000 people stranded in UAE have registered on the first day.
According to sources, the NORKA department had begun the registration process by around 6 pm on Sunday and witnessed around 25,000 registrations within the first hour. It is estimated that around 5.5 lakh expats will return to the state once the flight services resume.It is learnt that eight states including Kerala will witness a large number of expats returning from abroad.
The other states are Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The Kerala government had already informed that it will make necessary arrangements for the returning expats in all the four airports.The people who are waiting to return to the state include aged people, pregnant women, children, critically ill patients, people with expired visas and people who had gone abroad on visiting visa.
All the expats have to undergo COVID-19 test in the countries where they are and register after getting a negative certificate for the disease.The registration is for arranging quarantine facilities in the state, if necessary, and not for getting any priority on flight bookings, the sources said.
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