S2NRI

Together with natives, NRIs are in a tremendous panic. The pandemic -causing deadly virus “COVID-19” is not ready to calm down. It is now globally spread, causing death of around 14,652 people in 190 countries till 24^th March 2020, as per WHO reports.

Amid this deadliest outbreak, Indian government has decided to close borders for a month to curb this condition. The decision is going to be effective from Friday. As this news is broadcasted, a sudden rush to book the flight for home by NRIs is noticed. The worries to live in isolation seem secondary for them. They now have just one concern that is to reach home.

Visa cancellation

To stop Corona from being turned ugly, the immigration authority has suspended all existing visas until 15 April. But, there are leverages for diplomats, officials, UN / International organizations and for those who need to move for employment and project visas. Even, the Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) won’t be able to enjoy visa-free travel across this country till the same date. These guidelines have been effective since 13^th of March at 1200 GMT.

Impact

This announcement has caused mayhem among people who are on the short trips. They are booking for a return ticket without completing their trip. But, the airlines also have no idea about what is going to happen. They cannot premeditate the impact of visa curbs. Due to such suspensions, a large number of students are stuck in the US, as most of the universities have shut down their doors for regular classes. So, they are willing to come back but the suspended services have blocked them from all ways.

Impact on Flights

Delta has restricted its flight services to just 4 days a week from five between April and October. Qatar Airways has cut its services to Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi by 44 percent since March 11. Air Tanzania and RwandAir have completely suspended its flight services to India. Only Emirates is going on with its current schedule, covering all nine destinations that it would pass through.

A senior executive at the national carrier said, “Air India would be affected due to visa curbs. However, we are assessing the situation.” This leading flight service provider has also reduced the flights’ frequency to Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt and Tel Aviv. Its 80 percent passengers are Indian nationals who prefer it over other services.

But, other foreign airlines have a slight low ratio of Indians over foreigners. It is 60:40. But, still, these airlines will continue to go ahead with their services even if the load drops. It is simply because this country has the least impact of COVID-19 infection. The number of its cases is still very less. But if required, these airlines will cut on its frequencies.

Since the global spread of this infectious virus, the foreign carriers operating to India have cancelled about 492 flights till March. On the flip side, Indian carriers have halted 96 international flights.

Now, the future will decide on what the situation will be.

Source

Now, your hard earned Employees Provident Fund (EPF) from the previous employer can be shifted to the present employer online. The beneficiaries can access the Member e-SEWA website, wherein they can transfer their money from one PF account to another one.

Even if you are likely to go abroad to work with a globally present entrepreneur, you can digitally channelize your provident funds subsequently.

Requirements to transfer EPF account:

1. Activate UAN (Universal Account Number) on the Member e-SEWA website. Like Aadhaar, the UAN is a 12-digit identification number, which is assigned to you and your employer each for contributing to the EPF. The Ministry of Labour and Employment issues and integrates it with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). As you join HCL upon surrendering the job with Deloitte, let’s say, you will get a new member ID on the intimation. This ID will be later merged to your former UAN.
2. The beneficiary should carefully check if his personal information, contact details, marital status and other details would be correctly mentioned on the Member e-SEWA website. You can login to check it.
3. The beneficiary should also thoroughly crosscheck his bank account number, IFSC and Aadhaar details are digitally approved by the employer and UIDAI. You can explore the details in the ‘KYC’ option under the ‘Manage’ tab. But first, log in to your account.

Here, the “digital approval” stands for digital verification carried out by the UIDAI and the employer. The UIDAI will conduct the verification procedure once the employer has seeded the bank and Aadhaar details.

4. In the meantime, the personalised verification through OTP in an SMS to the registered mobile number will take place. Once it’s done, the online submission of the EPF transfer account request will be completed. So, always check if your SMS service is still ‘On’.
5. Subsequently, the attestation of the transfer form would be mandatory. So, make sure that you would select the right employer from the former and the current one.
6. Now, the question is which employer you should prefer. Here is the solution- choose the one who is already registered as an authorised signatory on the website. It is simply because only the authorised employer is allowed to attest such forms by using DSC (Digital Signature Certificate).

So, if you will subsequently become an NRI, make sure that you have passed through the hurdle of document attestation prior. It will help you to get off the prospective barriers.

How can you transfer PF online using UAN?

• Go to https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/
• Move to ‘Online Service’ menu. Select ‘One Member-One EPF Account (Transfer Request)’.
• A new webpage will open, displaying your personal details and the current EPF account information where you want to channelize your money. Check if your current PF account number is there. It should be mentioned on your salary slip or, in your EPF statement from your present employer.
• The next step is to choose between the present and the former employer who would attest your transfer form online. Before preferring either, ask the employer’s HR department if it can attest the document of transferring the fund.
• If your UAN is registered with the present or the former employer, enter the EPF account number (Member ID). If the EPF account with your previous employer is integrated to a different UAN, input that account number.
• Now, click the ‘Get Detail’ tab.
• Thereafter, select the EPF account where the fund is to be transferred from to the current PF account.
• Then, authenticate by clicking on the OTP tab. Fill the OTP in the field and click on ‘Submit’ tab.

Upon its successful submission, your ID for tracking will pop up on the screen. The form will be there to be downloaded in the PDF format.

Those cities and regions where the online EPF transfer facility is not yet started, they emphasize on manual submission of ‘Form-13’, also called the Transfer Claim Form. It should be duly attested by the employer.

Tracking Procedure of the PF ID:

The users can follow these instructions:

• Sign in the Member e-SEWA website.
• Go to the ‘Track Claim Status’ under the ‘Online Services’ tab.
• If it is accepted, the status form will display ‘Accepted by the Employer’.

Processing Time:

Generally, this procedure takes around two to three months. So, the account holders should have the patience and check the status in the meantime.