Has Anyone Left Europe's Schengen Area for 14 Days to Then Enter USA?

[RD7712 143]

Hello to all. My fiancee has a K1 visa. She was finalizing her stay in Austria when the European Schengen travel ban was put in place. Now there is a visa ban that apparently does not effect the K1 holders currently. I would like to know if anyone has ever tried staying in a country outside of the banned area for 14 days and then entered the USA under these circumstances?

[jvette 13]

I'm curious as well. My girlfriend lives in Germany and was supposed to arrive here in San Francisco three weeks ago on a J1 visa but was unable to do so as a result of the travel ban. I've read of some people trying to go through Mexico, but I don't know if that's possible anymore as they're no longer allowing you to book any kind of accommodation there. 

 

Our plan right now is to just wait this out...but what about having her spend two weeks in the next country (not in the Schengen zone) to open up it's borders to German citizens? And then fly on to the US...

 

Any thoughts are welcomed! 

[RD7712 143]

Just now, jvette said:

I'm curious as well. My girlfriend lives in Germany and was supposed to arrive here in San Francisco three weeks ago on a J1 visa but was unable to do so as a result of the travel ban. I've read of some people trying to go through Mexico, but I don't know if that's possible anymore as they're no longer allowing you to book any kind of accommodation there. 

 

Our plan right now is to just wait this out...but what about having her spend two weeks in the next country (not in the Schengen zone) to open up it's borders to German citizens? And then fly on to the US...

 

Any thoughts are welcomed! 

Hello and thanks for your input. We have considered that. It has been my project since the ban unfolded to look into countries that would be promising in terms of no restrictions, little infection and control of Covid-19, no quarantine mandates, and direct flights, or flights that would not transit in the EU Schengen countries. Quite nervous about the prospect if things don't work out while in another country. I have thought about Mexico, but reading the news there seems to be some hotspots that may, or may not be under control. I have looked into the Caribbean Islands and they have all shut down.  

[LaraAndEric 32]

I’m German and I was supposed to move to the US on a K1 visa around a month ago. I don’t  have a job or an apartment anymore, so I’m living with my parents and I’m ready to leave asap once the borders open.

My visa is valid until August, so I my plan is to wait until mid June and see what happens. If the travel ban won’t be lifted by that time, I’m thinking about traveling to some country that is outside the Schengen area.

 

Which country do you think would be be best? 
 

(Although I hope May is gonna be the month where we can see our loved ones again) 

[Lskifghj 53]

1 hour ago, LaraAndEric said:

I’m German and I was supposed to move to the US on a K1 visa around a month ago. I don’t  have a job or an apartment anymore, so I’m living with my parents and I’m ready to leave asap once the borders open.

My visa is valid until August, so I my plan is to wait until mid June and see what happens. If the travel ban won’t be lifted by that time, I’m thinking about traveling to some country that is outside the Schengen area.

 

Which country do you think would be be best? 
 

(Although I hope May is gonna be the month where we can see our loved ones again) 

I wanna know that too. My parents got their visas approved but stuck in Germany due to flight ban 

[Sarah84 46]

Hi at all! I am new here, but have been reading for some time. I am highly interested in that answer too. I am stuck in Germany right now and am thinking about traveling to another country that is not affected by the travel ban, stay there for 14 days and travel to the U.S. from there. I am willing to wait until June 1st, but if Trump won't have lifted the travel ban by then, I will risk it.

[RD7712 143]

My fiancee's K1 expires in early July. She is living in a bare flat after emptying it out. She quit her job and then had to ask to keep it again while she is waiting to leave when the ban gets lifted. I was also thinking June is a drop dead month to have her go somewhere. But not sure if there would be a problem getting admitted if she where to go somewhere for two weeks that not is the country of where she got her K1 visa. 

[LeoUSA 57]

Hey guys

 

I have an IR1 visa but can I transit in europe? I mean all flights go to either Frankfurt,Paris before arriving to the US, is that okay?

[Fabercham 22]

Interested to hear of anyone who has done this. I struggled to find flights from non banned countries that didn’t go via a banned one!

[LeoUSA 57]

17 minutes ago, Fabercham said:

Interested to hear of anyone who has done this. I struggled to find flights from non banned countries that didn’t go via a banned one!

Exactly. There is not, all have transit in EU

[jvette 13]

19 hours ago, LaraAndEric said:

I’m German and I was supposed to move to the US on a K1 visa around a month ago. I don’t  have a job or an apartment anymore, so I’m living with my parents and I’m ready to leave asap once the borders open.

My visa is valid until August, so I my plan is to wait until mid June and see what happens. If the travel ban won’t be lifted by that time, I’m thinking about traveling to some country that is outside the Schengen area.

 

Which country do you think would be be best? 
 

(Although I hope May is gonna be the month where we can see our loved ones again) 

We're in the same boat then! My girlfriend was SO lucky and got her J1 visa in Frankfurt in late February before things started to get really crazy. She'd quit her job but they luckily agreed to keep her on until she can get a flight over here. I'm nervous about Trump hinting that he's going to introduce additional immigration measures in the next 30 days. Regardless of what he does, my hope is that it will NOT effect those who already have visas (retroactively invalidating visas would be pretty f**ked up) and rather is just a "ban" on new visas being distributed. 

 

If the US/Schengen travel ban is still in place in 2-3 weeks time, we're seriously going to start looking at alternative options like others have mentioned here. I'm eyeing Costa Rica as a potential stopover but they're not allowing any foreign nationals into the country until 5/15, and for all I know that could be extended. 

 

Also — I believe someone mentioned trying to avoid countries with mandatory quarantines, but you're going to need at least a 2 week quarantine (or hotel stay) in order to meet the US requirement that you've been out of the Schengen zone for 14 days in order to be admitted to the country. 

 

Let's all continue to keep each other in the loop as to our respective plans and findings since we're all pretty much in the same boat trying to get someone from Germany to the US. 

 

[RD7712 143]

5 hours ago, LeoUSA said:

Hey guys

 

I have an IR1 visa but can I transit in europe? I mean all flights go to either Frankfurt,Paris before arriving to the US, is that okay?

The proclamation stated if one has been in the EU Schengen area in the last 14 days, including UK and Ireland. I would not take a risk transiting. I have looked at destinations such as Eastern Europe and Dubai, but need to make sure that one can find a flight to the USA without transiting EU, UK or Ireland. 

[LeoUSA 57]

5 hours ago, RD7712 said:

The proclamation stated if one has been in the EU Schengen area in the last 14 days, including UK and Ireland. I would not take a risk transiting. I have looked at destinations such as Eastern Europe and Dubai, but need to make sure that one can find a flight to the USA without transiting EU, UK or Ireland. 

I will try finding a flight that wont transit in EU but this is very hard tbh. But just in case i could not find one, aren’t spouses of US citizens exempted from that ban too?

[Sarah84 46]

8 hours ago, jvette said:

We're in the same boat then! My girlfriend was SO lucky and got her J1 visa in Frankfurt in late February before things started to get really crazy. She'd quit her job but they luckily agreed to keep her on until she can get a flight over here. I'm nervous about Trump hinting that he's going to introduce additional immigration measures in the next 30 days. Regardless of what he does, my hope is that it will NOT effect those who already have visas (retroactively invalidating visas would be pretty f**ked up) and rather is just a "ban" on new visas being distributed. 

 

If the US/Schengen travel ban is still in place in 2-3 weeks time, we're seriously going to start looking at alternative options like others have mentioned here. I'm eyeing Costa Rica as a potential stopover but they're not allowing any foreign nationals into the country until 5/15, and for all I know that could be extended. 

 

Also — I believe someone mentioned trying to avoid countries with mandatory quarantines, but you're going to need at least a 2 week quarantine (or hotel stay) in order to meet the US requirement that you've been out of the Schengen zone for 14 days in order to be admitted to the country. 

 

Let's all continue to keep each other in the loop as to our respective plans and findings since we're all pretty much in the same boat trying to get someone from Germany to the US. 

 

Yes!! Please let's stay in touch!!! Maybe we could get through this together somehow!

Edited April 27, 2020 by Sarah84

[RD7712 143]

I am looking into information on Bermuda, the Bahamas or one of the Caribbean islands. They are all currently closed to passengers coming in. Their lifting dates are not available.