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

[laylalex 7,293]

4 hours ago, LegalAlienn said:

Anyone left or transited from Schengen countries to USA recently with K1 visa? Right now I’m only having an option to transit through the Schengen. Can’t find a straight flight from Istanbul!

 

4 hours ago, Boiler said:

If you went to say Mexico for 2 weeks possible, I know of someone who entered the US couple of days ago who did that.

My sister-in-law-to-be arrived from the UK over the weekend after just over two weeks in Mexico. She had zero issues coming through CBP at LAX and will be staying here until mid-December.  I hear that cases are spiking again over there so not sure how long this will be possible... although I have been following this thread for months now and everyone keeps worrying about the Mexico workaround getting closed off, and it still hasn't. Nevertheless there is always a risk.

[HRQX 4,145]

7 hours ago, laylalex said:

My sister-in-law-to-be arrived from the UK over the weekend after just over two weeks in Mexico. She had zero issues coming through CBP at LAX and will be staying here until mid-December.

Note that @LegalAlienn just needs to transit through unrestricted countries as Bosnia-Herzegovina is an unrestricted country. So if @LegalAlienn goes to Mexico, just transiting is sufficient as long as transiting through Schengen Area, UK, Ireland, mainland China, Iran, or Brazil is avoided.

Edited October 13, 2020 by HRQX

[laylalex 7,293]

12 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Note that @LegalAlienn just needs to transit through unrestricted countries as Bosnia-Herzegovina is an unrestricted country. So if @LegalAlienn goes to Mexico, just transiting is sufficient as long as transiting through Schengen Area, UK, Ireland, mainland China, Iran, or Brazil is avoided.

Excellent point! I wasn't aware Bosnia-Herzegovina was unrestricted. Putting that in the mental file.

 

[HRQX 4,145]

6 minutes ago, laylalex said:

Excellent point! I wasn't aware Bosnia-Herzegovina was unrestricted.

Most of the Balkan countries aren't part of Schengen: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/03/16/2020-05578/suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of "For purposes of this proclamation, the Schengen Area comprises 26 European states: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland."

[Tyty040418 11]

Has anyone had a layover in Portugal from the US to another Schengen country? 

[irishflyer 0]

has anybody successfully navigated through Pre Clearance at Dublin Airport without any official embassy exemption? i have heard of someone being allowed to transit without any official papers from the Embassy, i am guessing they just got a nice compassionate agent who appreciated they are just trying to reunite with a loved one. It has got to the stage where i am willing to try anything even the risk of being turned away by Pre Clearance

[HRQX 4,145]

1 hour ago, irishflyer said:

has anybody successfully navigated through Pre Clearance at Dublin Airport without any official embassy exemption?

The embassy doesn't normally provide such documentation. The traveler presents the documents (marriage certificate, etc.) that show how he/she is exempt to the presidential proclamation to the airline and/or CBP: https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

• Do not attempt to check in for your flight online if you have an ESTA registration.
• Arrive early for your flight.
• Carry any documentation that you believe demonstrates why you have been excepted from a travel restriction, such as a Permanent Resident card (commonly known as a Green Card), a marriage certificate, or a birth certificate, so that it is available if it is requested for review.
• You may also wish to carry a copy of the Presidential Proclamation itself.
• Your status will be reviewed in consultation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
• If applicable in your case, your ESTA will be reinstated in order to allow you to board. Finally, please note that the U.S. Embassy cannot provide an official letter stating that you are excepted from a travel restriction.

[irishflyer 0]

48 minutes ago, HRQX said:

The embassy doesn't normally provide such documentation. The traveler presents the documents (marriage certificate, etc.) that show how he/she is exempt to the presidential proclamation to the airline and/or CBP: https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

• Do not attempt to check in for your flight online if you have an ESTA registration.
• Arrive early for your flight.
• Carry any documentation that you believe demonstrates why you have been excepted from a travel restriction, such as a Permanent Resident card (commonly known as a Green Card), a marriage certificate, or a birth certificate, so that it is available if it is requested for review.
• You may also wish to carry a copy of the Presidential Proclamation itself.
• Your status will be reviewed in consultation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
• If applicable in your case, your ESTA will be reinstated in order to allow you to board. Finally, please note that the U.S. Embassy cannot provide an official letter stating that you are excepted from a travel restriction.

 

The Irish Embassy are advising not to travel to the airport without a letter from them authorising you are exempt from travel as a "national interest"

 

I have a valid ESTA and my fiance is an American resident but because i dont qualify as a "national interest" as determined by the Embassy i am apprehensive about booking a flight and showing up at Pre-Clearance in Dublin even though i have all the documentation for our relationship.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Boiler 45,653]

2 minutes ago, irishflyer said:

 

The Irish Embassy are advising not to travel to the airport without a letter from them authorising you are exempt from travel as a "national interest"

 

I have a valid ESTA and my fiance is an American resident but because i dont qualify as a "national interest" as determined by the Embassy i am apprehensive about booking a flight and showing up at Pre-Clearance in Dublin even though i have all the documentation for our relationship.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

You will need to quarantine, Mexico is quite popular.

[HRQX 4,145]

7 minutes ago, irishflyer said:

i am apprehensive about booking a flight

Good call. You are clearly subject to the proclamation, so you can't travel directly from Ireland to the US. You would need to go to unrestricted country (e.g. Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, etc.) for 14 days before attempting US entry.

[stuckonyou 75]

Hi everyone,

 

I started a post recently to discuss K1 visa processing and effects of the Schengen travel ban: 

 

 

I was looking to just talk to others who are also waiting and to share any information, updates and things like that concerning our cases. Unfortunately my post was closed by someone who thought that it was about the same thing as this one.

 

But this post seems to only be about traveling to the US by going through a non travel ban country for 14 days, which doesn't help the actual K1 visa case at all because the embassies aren't issuing K1's due to the travel ban. I don't have any current plans to travel to the US through another country just to visit, so that's not what I wanted to discuss. The embassy still have my passport and hopefully my fiancé is coming to Sweden in the beginning of next year to visit me, so at this time the only reason for me to go through another country would be if I could do it with my visa and come to stay.

 

I only ready through the past two pages of this thread... and I feel very disappointed that mine was closed down, because we're not talking about the same thing at all. But since I was told to write here instead, is anyone here interested in talking about the actual K1 visa processing and what's going on with the travel ban and any new information and so forth and just help to keep each other updated?

[Mihaela Plesa 8]

6 minutes ago, stuckonyou said:

Hi everyone,

 

I started a post recently to discuss K1 visa processing and effects of the Schengen travel ban: 

 

 

I was looking to just talk to others who are also waiting and to share any information, updates and things like that concerning our cases. Unfortunately my post was closed by someone who thought that it was about the same thing as this one.

 

But this post seems to only be about traveling to the US by going through a non travel ban country for 14 days, which doesn't help the actual K1 visa case at all because the embassies aren't issuing K1's due to the travel ban. I don't have any current plans to travel to the US through another country just to visit, so that's not what I wanted to discuss. The embassy still have my passport and hopefully my fiancé is coming to Sweden in the beginning of next year to visit me, so at this time the only reason for me to go through another country would be if I could do it with my visa and come to stay.

 

I only ready through the past two pages of this thread... and I feel very disappointed that mine was closed down, because we're not talking about the same thing at all. But since I was told to write here instead, is anyone here interested in talking about the actual K1 visa processing and what's going on with the travel ban and any new information and so forth and just help to keep each other updated?

I contacted the embassy in Brussels and told them that my fiance will not be traveling directly to the US from Belgium, as he can quarantine in Romania prior to coming to the US.  I'm waiting to hear back.  I'm not sure they care, as the automated response still states that K1 visa processing is cancelled until further notice, but I had to try.  I also tried to transfer his case to the embassy in Bucharest, as he is a Romanian citizen residing in Belgium, but they told me that Bucharest isn't processing any K1 visas either.  

[stuckonyou 75]

6 minutes ago, Mihaela Plesa said:

I contacted the embassy in Brussels and told them that my fiance will not be traveling directly to the US from Belgium, as he can quarantine in Romania prior to coming to the US.  I'm waiting to hear back.  I'm not sure they care, as the automated response still states that K1 visa processing is cancelled until further notice, but I had to try.  I also tried to transfer his case to the embassy in Bucharest, as he is a Romanian citizen residing in Belgium, but they told me that Bucharest isn't processing any K1 visas either.  

Let me know what they say. 😇

Maybe we could to something like that too. My fiancé has relatives in Guatemala, for example, so perhaps I could hang out there for two weeks. I know that they'd love to meet me anyways. I don't know if they have any travel restrictions on Europe, though, but either way there's always the possibility of finding one or two K1 friends and have as safe of a corona vacation as possible somewhere. 😅

 

Do you know if the embassy in Bucharest is open or if that's just another way for them to just not process K1's? I wonder which embassies in Europe that do process K1's at the moment... Anyone know?

[Mihaela Plesa 8]

2 minutes ago, stuckonyou said:

Let me know what they say. 😇

Maybe we could to something like that too. My fiancé has relatives in Guatemala, for example, so perhaps I could hang out there for two weeks. I know that they'd love to meet me anyways. I don't know if they have any travel restrictions on Europe, though, but either way there's always the possibility of finding one or two K1 friends and have as safe of a corona vacation as possible somewhere. 😅

 

Do you know if the embassy in Bucharest is open or if that's just another way for them to just not process K1's? I wonder which embassies in Europe that do process K1's at the moment... Anyone know?

as far as I know, the embassy in Bucharest is open, just not processing K1 visas at the time.  I just don't understand this.  It's not like they have a huge amount of K1 visas, which would totally overwhelm them!  The Brussels embassy was processing an average of 3-5 K1 visas per month before the pandemic hit.  It's politics, it's laziness, and it's a power struggle.  So frustrating!

[molehills 67]

2 minutes ago, stuckonyou said:

finding one or two K1 friends and have as safe of a corona vacation as possible somewhere. 😅

 

@stuckonyou if you're familiar with the #loveisnottourism movement, they're pretty big on Facebook. I've seen quite a few folks banding together and quarantining together. You might find someone willing to take a Caribbean vacation in winter from Sweden, lol.