Bengaluru: The US Consulate in Chennai has urged all American citizens in Karnataka to enrol in free digital service, the Smart Traveller Enrollment Programme (STEP), provided by the US State Department.
The US citizens are expected to provide their contact information and trip itineraries to the US Department of State through the platform so that US govt can reach out to them quickly. "The consulate will reach out to them under two circumstances. One, if there's some kind of a safety alert that we need to send to US citizens, that would be a weather event, political disturbance, health crisis or something along those lines. We would be able to send them guidance about what to do through the platform," said Carlton Benson, American Citizen Services (ACS) Chief at the US Consulate General in Chennai.
"We also send routine messages. It would be to announce our town halls for US citizens, passport outreach programmes or other issues from the consulate," he added.
"Passport outreach is extremely important as it is one opportunity where they can apply for renewals without travelling to Chennai, thus saving a lot of time," he said.
As per the consulate, there are 80,000 US citizens in Karnataka, 50,000 in Tamil Nadu and 20,000 in Kerala. "So if they're not registered in STEP, it's hard for us to get the message out to them," he said.
While STEP has been around for many years, it was recently updated, which requires re-enrolling. While about 20,000 US citizens in Karnataka previously enrolled, the recent update requires them to register again. The enrolment is a 20-minute procedure.
"We have instances where STEP came in very handy. During Covid, we arranged six evacuation flights for US citizens who decided to go home. And it was only through STEP that we were able to reach out to them. In south India, we have regular weather events like heavy monsoon rains and flooding. When all of that happens, the consulate will close. And it's through STEP that we can let people know not only about the cyclone, but the trajectory of the storm. Similarly, we have also used it recently for security alerts related to the crisis in the Middle East and the Oct 7 attack on Israel and landslide in Wayanad," Carlton said.