Potential impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) epidemic on the citizenship process (and timelines)

[Mounat02 63]

8 minutes ago, N400NYC said:

Thank you! Fingers crossed! <1 week to go...

Wow, that close? Fingers and toes crossed!

 

I think you'll be fine. Come back and share the good news. Remember, no handshakes with fellow oath takers.

[N400NYC 380]

2 minutes ago, Mounat02 said:

Wow, that close? Fingers and toes crossed!

 

I think you'll be fine. Come back and share the good news. Remember, no handshakes with fellow oath takers.

Hopefully!! And yes, will definitely report back.

 

I think this post was also aimed at helping me managing my anxiety about the possibility of an oath postponement! I'd be happy for other people to tell me I am overreacting and that everything will be okay! 

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from USC Case Filing and Progress Reports to US Citizenship General Discussion**

[African Zealot 1,455]

1 hour ago, N400NYC said:

I'm not worried about it (the virus). 

 

Just worried about potential impact on citizenship process!

What do you accomplish/benefit by worrying over things beyond your control? 

[Mounat02 63]

6 minutes ago, Ray.Bonaquist said:

What do you accomplish/benefit by worrying over things beyond your control? 

Ah, if only it were that easy.

 

  

19 minutes ago, N400NYC said:

Hopefully!! And yes, will definitely report back.

 

I think this post was also aimed at helping me managing my anxiety about the possibility of an oath postponement! I'd be happy for other people to tell me I am overreacting and that everything will be okay! 

The anxiety is palpable all around. I'm scheduled to travel to visit an elderly family member whom I haven't seen for a long time but worried that I might catch something on the way and deliver it to them.

 

More closely at home, there's already sporadic shortages of some food items, water and sanitation products. These could prove to be severe and then anything is possible.

 

 

[millefleur 5,046]

Folks, it is what it is at this point. If your local office gets temporarily closed like Seattle, we just have to bite the bullet and wait. Patience is key here.

 

I think cancelling appointments if you have a fever or are coughing is good advice. I know we're all anxious to get our interview/oath dates, but stopping the spread of the virus at this point should be priority. Besides, if the USC filing fees are going to go up as much as we expect them to, let's hope there won't be a shortage in the budget to hire more people to avoid backlogging. 

 

I'm not sure how "priority" USCIS views N-400 cases. I'm just assuming they're considered lower priority since N-400 applicants already have status, so probably there will be delays. Let's all just brace ourselves for that....I hope those of you who have interviews scheduled already will get those finished soon without delay. As N-400 filers, we all have status (I assume), and a delayed N-400 isn't going to be such a huge deal.

 

If you're concerned about getting your US passport for travel reasons, well, international travel also isn't looking so stable right now, so see it from that perspective. The situation is out of USCIS's hands sadly, and we just have to understand that. At least a lot of US airlines are offering flexibility for flight cancellations/changes right now.

[N400NYC 380]

31 minutes ago, Ray.Bonaquist said:

What do you accomplish/benefit by worrying over things beyond your control? 

If you find the answer, a few billion people would like to know it! 

[ohcoffeeeyes 120]

We also need to look at this:

 

If someone doing the K1 or CR-1 process gets Coronavirus, they then recover cause theyre in a first world country (think Italy) like 60k people have already. What does the US government do? Treat it like TB? It's a pandemic.

[Shaun (S) 14]

1 hour ago, N400NYC said:

Hopefully!! And yes, will definitely report back.

 

I think this post was also aimed at helping me managing my anxiety about the possibility of an oath postponement! I'd be happy for other people to tell me I am overreacting and that everything will be okay! 

You are not over reacting.  My interview is in 2 weeks so I could have an oath in April or May.  Los Angeles gives the oath to 10,000 in one day.  When you hear music festivals and conventions are being cancelled losing millions in revenue, its logical to see such large scale oath ceremonies being delayed or cancelled.  I have waited 20 years for this day, it’s hard to now see it possibly moved further away.  

[millefleur 5,046]

3 minutes ago, ohcoffeeeyes said:

We also need to look at this:

 

If someone doing the K1 or CR-1 process gets Coronavirus, they then recover cause theyre in a first world country (think Italy) like 60k people have already. What does the US government do? Treat it like TB? It's a pandemic.

The virus is new. Scientists and doctors know a lot more about TB than they do this new virus, hence "novel coronavirus." TB is also caused by a bacteria, and bacterial infections are almost always easier to treat/maintain than viral ones. 

 

The faster the scientific community can learn about the new virus, the better for everyone. Sadly, this takes time though but it appears scientists around the world are working their tails off to fight this virus. It's possible the virus may be detectible via CT scan, maybe mass CT scans for immigration will be the new thing, sort of like chest x-rays with TB. But we just don't know for sure yet because the virus is new and still poorly understood by the scientific/medical community. Scientists also don't know the long term effects of the virus, so in terms of cured/recovered cases, we just don't know what the risks are for that. With TB, there are standard detection and treatment methods, with this virus, sadly, it's just too early to tell what "standard" procedure is going to look like until scientists and governments can cooperate together to come up with solid plans.

 

Since this a virus, what we need is a vaccine, and that could take years. In the meantime, keep your immune system strong, because that's the only defense we have for now.

[BBlueB 35]

That's why they removed the estimated time of completion?

[N400NYC 380]

1 hour ago, Shaun (S) said:

You are not over reacting.  My interview is in 2 weeks so I could have an oath in April or May.  Los Angeles gives the oath to 10,000 in one day.  When you hear music festivals and conventions are being cancelled losing millions in revenue, its logical to see such large scale oath ceremonies being delayed or cancelled.  I have waited 20 years for this day, it’s hard to now see it possibly moved further away.  

I hear you. That's exactly what I am talking about! 

1 hour ago, BBlueB said:

That's why they removed the estimated time of completion?

Nobody knows the reason....

[Ryanmaria2018 186]

5 hours ago, Lucky Cat said:

I am not downplaying this virus, but I think it is important to put everything into perspective.

 

https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/how-many-people-die-of-the-flu-every-year#:~:text=

 

Feb 11, 2020

"While everyone is in a panic about the coronavirus (officially renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization), there's an even deadlier virus many people are forgetting about: the flu.

Flu season is hitting its stride right now in the US. So far, the CDC has estimated (based on weekly influenza surveillance data) that at least 12,000 people have died from influenza between Oct. 1, 2019 through Feb. 1, 2020, and the number of deaths may be as high as 30,000. "

We have been so used to people getting the flu virus and yet it goes unnoticed throughout the US and the world. The coronavirus hits the US and the panic is so way overblown and people are going to the stores to buy up hand sanitizers and water as if it's the end of the world. As we know now that it is affecting people who are 80 and over and people who are 60 and older are affected just like the flu. Just stay home and drink plenty of water and don't go out unless you need to.

[N400NYC 380]

9 minutes ago, Ryanmaria2018 said:

We have been so used to people getting the flu virus and yet it goes unnoticed throughout the US and the world. The coronavirus hits the US and the panic is so way overblown and people are going to the stores to buy up hand sanitizers and water as if it's the end of the world. As we know now that it is affecting people who are 80 and over and people who are 60 and older are affected just like the flu. Just stay home and drink plenty of water and don't go out unless you need to.

These stats  below are from late February (cohort from China) but I imagine they still hold true. By the way, the overall death rate for the flu is 0.1%.

 

People might think that, for example, a 3.6% death rate for the 60-69 group isn't much. But once you have hundreds of thousands of people getting infected even small death rates become significant. 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-death-age-older-people-higher-risk-2020-2

 

 

[N400NYC 380]

2 hours ago, millefleur said:

The virus is new. Scientists and doctors know a lot more about TB than they do this new virus, hence "novel coronavirus." TB is also caused by a bacteria, and bacterial infections are almost always easier to treat/maintain than viral ones. 

 

The faster the scientific community can learn about the new virus, the better for everyone. Sadly, this takes time though but it appears scientists around the world are working their tails off to fight this virus. It's possible the virus may be detectible via CT scan, maybe mass CT scans for immigration will be the new thing, sort of like chest x-rays with TB. But we just don't know for sure yet because the virus is new and still poorly understood by the scientific/medical community. Scientists also don't know the long term effects of the virus, so in terms of cured/recovered cases, we just don't know what the risks are for that. With TB, there are standard detection and treatment methods, with this virus, sadly, it's just too early to tell what "standard" procedure is going to look like until scientists and governments can cooperate together to come up with solid plans.

 

Since this a virus, what we need is a vaccine, and that could take years. In the meantime, keep your immune system strong, because that's the only defense we have for now.

This also outlines well why saying coronavirus is similar to the flu is very problematic. In comparison with the flu/influenza:

 

COVID-19 is new (less is known about it), there is no vaccine (yet), has a higher death rate, and nobody knows if there are any long-term consequences for those who become very ill but recover.