External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj saved Orlando Bloom’s day after the actor was deported from New Delhi when he landed there without a valid visa on Saturday. Bloom had been invited to the country by the Uttar Pradesh government to promote tourism, but did not realise his e-visa had been rejected.

He was deported to the United Kingdom soon after he reached in Delhi. The Hindu reported that Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh requested Sushma Swaraj’s assistance. The Union minister then had a new visa issued for the actor, after which Bloom returned to Delhi on Sunday and immediately took a trip to the Taj Mahal.

Singh claimed that Bloom's office did not know the intricacies of the Indian visa system and were not informed that the visa had been rejected. They believed he would just be granted a visa on arrival. However, the immigration officers in Delhi, who did not know who he was, sent him right back to England.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said it was not possible that Bloom had not been intimated of the rejection, and that the immigration officers had acted as they would with any passenger who arrived without a visa.