Coronavirus in China

[givionte 138]

12 hours ago, OliverBa said:

This is some ########. I have two friends, one in Australia, one in the Philippines who just got notified that their cases arrived at the embassy there today. So all the other countries are still processing as normal, granted interviews are delayed at this point, but everything else, going smoothly. Why are we who are processing in China still being held up? Cases in China at this point is way lower than other countries, this is just straight up BS. Our case has been “AT NVC” for two and half months. I’m gonna lose my marbles

Its real simple why.  Australia currently only have a minor Level 1 travel advisory, Philippines slightly elevated level 2.  China has a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory.  Until the Trump admin lowers the warning for travel to China, they won't be sending diplomats and officer's back.

 

As of today, all foreigners are banned from entry into China, so expect that level 4 to continue to last a while, now that China has walked themselves off from the entire world.  Even before the ban, foreigners were being subjected to awful quarantines in unknown locations upon arrival.  The US won't put government workers in that kind of unsafe situation, and I understand why they refused to lower the level 4 warning beforehand.

 

Also, it's nearly impossible to leave now or find an incoming flight,  as only a few flights a day are running countrywide.  We're all pretty much stuck where we are for the foreseeable future.

Edited March 28, 2020 by givionte

[OliverBa 61]

17 minutes ago, givionte said:

Its real simple why.  Australia currently only have a minor Level 1 travel advisory, Philippines slightly elevated level 2.  China has a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory.  Until the Trump admin lowers the warning for travel to China, they won't be sending diplomats and officer's back.

 

As of today, all foreigners are banned from entry into China, so expect that level 4 to continue to last a while, now that China has walked themselves off from the entire world.  Even before the ban, foreigners were being subjected to awful quarantines in unknown locations upon arrival.  The US won't put government workers in that kind of unsafe situation, and I understand why they refused to lower the level 4 warning beforehand.

 

Also, it's nearly impossible to leave now or find an incoming flight,  as only a few flights a day are running countrywide.  We're all pretty much stuck where we are for the foreseeable future.

Yes, I’m aware. For whatever reason that Level 4 is tied that specific presidential proclamation suspending travel to the states to anyone who has been in China within 14 days of entry to the States. That is supposed to be reviewed every 15 days and either cancelled or renewed, my frustration is with the logic of it all. There is a lower threat in China of catching the virus now than Australia. China banned foreigners because all their new cases within the last two weeks were from people who had been to other countries and traveled to China, so that makes total sense. The consular officers would still be able to travel back to China as the ban does not apply to holders of diplomatic passports and as Foriegn Service officers, they all have diplomatic passports. So really the only reason we all are still forced to be in this situation, is because of the Dude in the White House and his ego. 

[quibily 2]

My husband (French) and I (USC) live in Sichuan province, right now, and we are getting anxious.  Last spring, he did the interview in Guangzhou, and we were told we didn't have all the documents, and we had until April 21st this year to turn everything in.  Because of necessity, we were waiting to finish everything by having him do the medical exam in Guangzhou again this month--but because of this pandemic, we are not allowed to be away from our apartment complex for more than two hours, meaning we also can't go to Chengdu to get some necessary paperwork done (Chinese criminal record and getting it translated) without being kept out of our home until they decide it's safe.

 

And it looks like the hospital is not accepting appointments for immigrant visa medical exams.  He's worried that they will turn us away if we don't turn everything in on time, but I think they won't because the delay isn't our fault. 

 

Is anyone else really close to a deadline, like us?  I hate worrying about it alone...

Edited March 29, 2020 by quibily

[givionte 138]

On 3/28/2020 at 3:06 PM, OliverBa said:

Yes, I’m aware. For whatever reason that Level 4 is tied that specific presidential proclamation suspending travel to the states to anyone who has been in China within 14 days of entry to the States. That is supposed to be reviewed every 15 days and either cancelled or renewed, my frustration is with the logic of it all. There is a lower threat in China of catching the virus now than Australia. China banned foreigners because all their new cases within the last two weeks were from people who had been to other countries and traveled to China, so that makes total sense. The consular officers would still be able to travel back to China as the ban does not apply to holders of diplomatic passports and as Foriegn Service officers, they all have diplomatic passports. So really the only reason we all are still forced to be in this situation, is because of the Dude in the White House and his ego. 

I totally understand the frustration.  Me and my wife still have our flight out in May, and the last thing I expected last week was China putting a total ban on incoming foreign nationals, and cancelling 99.9% of international flights.  Was the opposite of what I expected come April, and throws our flight in a flux, we wanted to avoid the awful Chinese airliners since we are bringing a cat on board, but unless the government allows Korean Air to have their flights back, we may have no other choice to at least put our cat in cargo for the first 3 hour leg.

 

China seems to be getting nervous, I think second wave numbers are higher than they are willing to admit, hence the bans, not to mention the movie theaters and entertainment places once again closing down again today. What tee's me off is 95% of the new cases are imported, from Chinese nationals, not the handful of foreigners who made the difficult decision to come back for work or family.  They already were going to be put under heavy scrutiny upon arrival, you certainly couldn't just go self-quarantine at the Westin Hotel or something.  I suppose the possibility of a scandal with those corrupt quarantine scandals might have pushed the CCP to just have a blanket ban instead of trying to manage an entire network of inbound quarantine policies.  Who knows, just speculating.

 

I expect in the weeks to come China will begin to slowly relax some restrictions, and score a deal with the Trump admin to get some of the diplomats back in China.  They will be both trying to score a few pandemic victories soon to boost the economy and keep people optimistic.

[givionte 138]

20 hours ago, quibily said:

And it looks like the hospital is not accepting appointments for immigrant visa medical exams.  He's worried that they will turn us away if we don't turn everything in on time, but I think they won't because the delay isn't our fault. 

 

 

The Guangzhou exam hospital does not do appointments.  It is first come, first serve, and you should expect to get there at least 2 hours before they open and stand in line.  If you arrive at, or after opening, it can be up to a 6 hour wait until your number is called.  There's a sit-down Luckin Coffee in the same building, so at least you can get a latte and some carbs while waiting around.

 

How long have you been in Guangzhou, are you in a 14 day arrival quarantine?  If you've been here longer than 14 days, to be honest, I'd tell the guards at your complex to 'f' themselves, and go get your business done.  They can't legally be forcing you to only go out for 2 hours, unless you have clear instructions from government CDC quarantine officials to stay indoors.  I've had guards at my complex try to claim I need stamps, or I need to scan a QR code, and I just ignore them, it's my house, and I got keys, and the Chinese locals don't have these rules, so why should I.

[quibily 2]

3 hours ago, givionte said:

The Guangzhou exam hospital does not do appointments.  It is first come, first serve, and you should expect to get there at least 2 hours before they open and stand in line.  If you arrive at, or after opening, it can be up to a 6 hour wait until your number is called.  There's a sit-down Luckin Coffee in the same building, so at least you can get a latte and some carbs while waiting around.

 

How long have you been in Guangzhou, are you in a 14 day arrival quarantine?  If you've been here longer than 14 days, to be honest, I'd tell the guards at your complex to 'f' themselves, and go get your business done.  They can't legally be forcing you to only go out for 2 hours, unless you have clear instructions from government CDC quarantine officials to stay indoors.  I've had guards at my complex try to claim I need stamps, or I need to scan a QR code, and I just ignore them, it's my house, and I got keys, and the Chinese locals don't have these rules, so why should I.

 

Thanks for replying, first of all.

 

To clarify, we are in Sichuan province and have been here since September.  We live in an apartment complex inside the campus of the university we teach at, and since early February, the campus has made the rule that we can't be gone more than two hours.

 

Last time my husband was in the Guangzhou hospital for a medical exam, he said he needed to show a confirmation code for an appointment.  He even had to go back to the hotel to look for it because they flat-out refused him.  I assume this was to prove his interview appointment, but this time, we don't need an interview, so how will they let us in?  Maybe he needed the code to be let in quickly, and otherwise, he would have been in the six-hour-long line?

 

Also, I assumed that, if the Guangzhou consulate is still currently closed, the hospital is probably also closed (for those who want to take the med. exam), so maybe there's no point in going.  But we don't know.  When we send the consulate messages to ask, they give us the "closed until further notice" generic message.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by quibily

[givionte 138]

10 minutes ago, quibily said:

 

 

 

We are in Sichuan province and have been here since July.  We live in an apartment complex inside the campus of the university we teach at, and since early February, the campus has made the rule that we can't be gone more than two hours.

 

Last time my husband was in the Guangzhou hospital for a medical exam, he said he needed to show a confirmation code for an appointment.  He even had to go back to the hotel to look for it because they flat-out refused him.  I assume this was to prove his interview appointment, but this time, we don't need an interview, so how will they let us in?  Maybe he needed the code to be let in quickly, and otherwise, he would have been in the six-hour-long line?

 

Oh damn, living on a school campus, ok yeah, I see why you are being put through such strict measures, they are desperate to open the schools back up soon so are trying to keep them in pristine condition.  Thoughts and prayers on that living condition, sounds like you might have to just eat the financial loss and get out somewhere better.

 

I would contact the consulate to ask about that process.  They may need to send you a replacement confirmation so that they'll do the exam, because yes, they do ask to see the appointment letter, but I'm not sure they'd accept an old appointment letter from last year.  That seems unlikely considering how strict I remember them being.  We didn't print off the Visa Instructions email last time, which seemed really pointless since other papers had my wife's case number and we had the appointment letter, but they demanded we print it out.  Luckily we were able to print my email at the help desk there instead of being sent home.

[quibily 2]

17 minutes ago, givionte said:

Oh damn, living on a school campus, ok yeah, I see why you are being put through such strict measures, they are desperate to open the schools back up soon so are trying to keep them in pristine condition.  Thoughts and prayers on that living condition, sounds like you might have to just eat the financial loss and get out somewhere better.

 

I would contact the consulate to ask about that process.  They may need to send you a replacement confirmation so that they'll do the exam, because yes, they do ask to see the appointment letter, but I'm not sure they'd accept an old appointment letter from last year.  That seems unlikely considering how strict I remember them being.  We didn't print off the Visa Instructions email last time, which seemed really pointless since other papers had my wife's case number and we had the appointment letter, but they demanded we print it out.  Luckily we were able to print my email at the help desk there instead of being sent home.

 

 

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.  Thanks for the tips about the hospital. It's helped me form a plan....

 

First, we wanna see if our local small-town police station can put in a request that the Chengdu police station mail us the criminal record.

 

My husband was supposed to talk to the translation place today, and we'll see if we might be able to send them a digital copy that they need to translate, so we only need to go into the city once to pick up the certified translation.  I'm talking with the school to see if they could give us a day pass.

 

And I sent the consulate a message, asking if our deadline could be extended and try to be as clear as possible.  If they say no, I'll ask about the hospital and look into a nice long expensive stay in Chengdu and Guangzhou hotels in April, I guess....  Ugh. 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by quibily

[cyclone27 710]

Judging from Chinese lack of transparency I am going to wager you won’t see anyone going in/out for a very long time. 

[SoSol 27]

Anyone have updates from their respective embassy regarding when they'll resume working? Passports held at GZ for over 3 months now

[givionte 138]

8 hours ago, SoSol said:

Anyone have updates from their respective embassy regarding when they'll resume working? Passports held at GZ for over 3 months now

Chinese government told US diplomats they are welcome back on May 15th, no earlier.  A couple diplomats got a bit upset being told what they can or can't do by the Chinese government (international law says they can come back anytime they want, and are exempt from quarantine rules).  So who knows, they might try to keep tensions low and wait until the 15th, but after the disgusting situation with African's in Guangzhou recently, the US government might want to come back quickly and help African-Americans get out of here asap.

 

That's all that is known.

[SoSol 27]

4 hours ago, givionte said:

Chinese government told US diplomats they are welcome back on May 15th, no earlier.  A couple diplomats got a bit upset being told what they can or can't do by the Chinese government (international law says they can come back anytime they want, and are exempt from quarantine rules).  So who knows, they might try to keep tensions low and wait until the 15th, but after the disgusting situation with African's in Guangzhou recently, the US government might want to come back quickly and help African-Americans get out of here asap.

 

That's all that is known.

Thank you for the update, we haven't heard or gotten any new information from the consulate website. We found some information about B visa appointment availability near the end of May so that could be when they've returned. 

[LittlePug 60]

Thanks for all the information and update. I keep checking this thread from time to time to see if there is any updates. 😂 Such a long wait! My fiance always comforts me and says "好事多磨" (Good things take time). Ai ya ya!

[quibily 2]

If Trump's intended executive order to suspend immigration goes through, it looks like we might have to wait until well after May 15th.

Edited April 22, 2020 by quibily

[ShibaYuri2428 14]

1 hour ago, quibily said:

If Trump's intended executive order to suspend immigration goes through, it looks like we might have to wait until well after May 15th.

I think it only applies to people who are working in the US or are relatives to existing green card holders.