What to do if K1 Fiancee is in Wuhan?

[Plaxerous 10]

My fiancee received her K1 Visa several months back but wanted to wait until after Lunar New Year to fly to the US (we already have these flight tickets). However, she is based in Wuhan and we are very worried about the travel ban due to the coronavirus. Her K1 Visa expires near the end of March and we obviously want to avoid re-applying for the Visa. Should we take drastic measures and have her drive to a different city, maybe take a train to Beijing, and fly to the US ASAP? Any advice is appreciated...

[Dashinka 24,494]

Personally, I would wait it out a little to see if the travel ban is lifted after the Lunar New Year period is over.  My wife and I have been talking about this as we also have a planned trip coming up that transits through China (Beijing).  I am not sure I would take the route of trying to sneak out of Wuhan at this point, if for some reason the travel ban stays in place for a long period (past her visa validity), I believe you can get an extension to the visa, but others may know this better.

 

Good Luck, and I hope your fiancé remains well.

[designguy 1,179]

Concur with the above. If you want to be proactive you could reach out to the embassy and see if they have any procedure in place to handle that, but its unlikely that a travel ban would exist for the following two months . Good Luck!

[Crazy Cat 41,848]

1 hour ago, Plaxerous said:

My fiancee received her K1 Visa several months back but wanted to wait until after Lunar New Year to fly to the US (we already have these flight tickets). However, she is based in Wuhan and we are very worried about the travel ban due to the coronavirus. Her K1 Visa expires near the end of March and we obviously want to avoid re-applying for the Visa. Should we take drastic measures and have her drive to a different city, maybe take a train to Beijing, and fly to the US ASAP? Any advice is appreciated...

I thought all travel out of Wuhan was prohibited......I would not advise her to usurp the travel ban in any way.

[Ryan H 3,812]

15 hours ago, Plaxerous said:

Should we take drastic measures and have her drive to a different city, maybe take a train to Beijing, and fly to the US ASAP? Any advice is appreciated...

 

Air, train, and bus travel out of Wuhan is currently suspended; trying to drive to another city probably won't work either as expressways are likely to have checkpoints that one will not be able to pass by.

 

If the restrictions are not lifted before the visa expires, do as others have suggested and reach out to the Consulate for what may be done next.

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

On 1/24/2020 at 9:00 AM, missileman said:

I thought all travel out of Wuhan was prohibited......I would not advise her to usurp the travel ban in any way.

Exactly this...the travel ban is there to protect people...why would anyone think it was ok to ignore this and risk other people's lives?

[jd_malachi 59]

My fiance who lives in Beijing said that all traffic out of Wuhan, including cars, has been suspended.  Best bet is to contact the consulate.

Edited January 26, 2020 by jd_malachi

[givionte 138]

You had an opportunity to hop on the special envoy plane to the US, but too late now.  Your original tickets would have been refunded.  You are just going to have to wait like everyone else, now.  If it starts to cut close, the Beijing embassy or Shanghai consulate should be able to help extend, but it may require a new medical exam.

[Dashinka 24,494]

On 1/29/2020 at 2:44 AM, givionte said:

You had an opportunity to hop on the special envoy plane to the US, but too late now.  Your original tickets would have been refunded.  You are just going to have to wait like everyone else, now.  If it starts to cut close, the Beijing embassy or Shanghai consulate should be able to help extend, but it may require a new medical exam.

There may be more evac flights, but I am curious if these are just for USCs.  Today, American and Delta suspended all flights to and from China, and I expect United will be doing the same.  I have not heard if China Eastern, China Southern, or Air China are still flying to the US.

[P&T23 2]

Kinda worried here too. My fiancee is in Yongzhou, Hunan,China, to visit her family for CNY and still the travel ban is still active. All roads are blocked and public transportation are not accessible yet. She was suppose to be back to Shenzhen on January 30 but have to extend her stay. She works in Shenzhen and was informed that February 10th will be back in session. So hopefully everything will be back to normal around or after 14days+ the incubation period.  She is set to come to America on March 2 where I will be picking her up in LAX. I hope nothing prevents her to travel on March 2nd. 🙏🙏🙏
Also medical/N95 masks are hard to get over there. I am trying to scout some to send some to her but no luck here yet. Local drugstores/retail/groceries are out and online saying out of stock or backordered. 😔

Edited February 3, 2020 by Parris

[Plaxerous 10]

9 hours ago, Parris & Tiffany said:

Kinda worried here too. My fiancee is in Yongzhou, Hunan,China, to visit her family for CNY and still the travel ban is still active. All roads are blocked and public transportation are not accessible yet. She was suppose to be back to Shenzhen on January 30 but have to extend her stay. She works in Shenzhen and was informed that February 10th will be back in session. So hopefully everything will be back to normal around or after 14days+ the incubation period.  She is set to come to America on March 2 where I will be picking her up in LAX. I hope nothing prevents her to travel on March 2nd. 🙏🙏🙏
Also medical/N95 masks are hard to get over there. I am trying to scout some to send some to her but no luck here yet. Local drugstores/retail/groceries are out and online saying out of stock or backordered. 😔

I wouldn't count on the travel ban or the virus being controlled by March. These things are more of a half-year to yearlong timeline. I'm planning to see if I can extend my fiancee's K-1 visa past her 6 months.

[P&T23 2]

3 hours ago, Plaxerous said:

I wouldn't count on the travel ban or the virus being controlled by March. These things are more of a half-year to yearlong timeline. I'm planning to see if I can extend my fiancee's K-1 visa past her 6 months.

I am thinking to do that as well when Guangzhou US Consulate is back open on February 10th. My fiancée contacted me recently that her March 2nd flight from Shenzhen to Los Angeles is cancelled now. Her K1 Visa expires till June 1 but yeah like everyone would do having backup and comfort range is better to have than having a short amount of time to do everything at once.

[Plaxerous 10]

30 minutes ago, Parris & Tiffany said:

I am thinking to do that as well when Guangzhou US Consulate is back open on February 10th. My fiancée contacted me recently that her March 2nd flight from Shenzhen to Los Angeles is cancelled now. Her K1 Visa expires till June 1 but yeah like everyone would do having backup and comfort range is better to have than having a short amount of time to do everything at once.

If you wouldn't mind sharing, how do you plan on contacting the GUZ embassy? It seems like most of the phone numbers and emails on the GUZ website and on VisaJourney are for NOA1/NOA2/Interview support

[P&T23 2]

On 1/31/2020 at 1:45 PM, Bill & Katya said:

There may be more evac flights, but I am curious if these are just for USCs.  Today, American and Delta suspended all flights to and from China, and I expect United will be doing the same.  I have not heard if China Eastern, China Southern, or Air China are still flying to the US.

Air China decided to cancel their flights to USA. My fiancee's flight got cancelled for March 2. 😪

[Dashinka 24,494]

1 hour ago, Parris & Tiffany said:

Air China decided to cancel their flights to USA. My fiancee's flight got cancelled for March 2. 😪

Yes, it has become a big pain.  The wife and I are heading to Russia soon, and normally we transit through Beijing.  Now that all US flights are canceled, we had to reschedule our entire trip.

 

Good Luck!