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U.S. suspending visa services worldwide due to coronavirus
- zahma 7y agoAfter nearly two years of waiting for paperwork to be reviewed by CIS and Department of State and for an appointment at the consulate, my partner received the entry visa and passport in the mail only three days ago. I am truly sorry for anyone who is about to start this process because it will take even longer on top of what is already an inhumanely lengthy amount of time to bring someone into the U.S.
- rwmj 7y agoYes it took me a year to sort out my visa. When I read this news I thought "how will anyone tell the difference?"
- ericmay 7y agoWell, it'll take even longer since they will have a backlog. That would be my guess.
- ipqk 7y agoI applied for Global Entry months after the 2018/2019 government shutdown, and it was still significantly backlogged because of it.
- ukabwlsbeux 7y agoI did too. My in person interview consisted of me showing them my drivers license and verbally confirming my email. Honestly I was pretty pissed that I needed to spend so much time waiting and scheduling around a trip to the office for that.
- kylehotchkiss 7y agoI’m just 2 months behind you, my wife and I were celebrating that we’d be able to live in USA very soon just hours before the embassy announced indefinite suspension of interviews. To make matters worse; they prioritize family visas under student visas sometimes so this delay could easily be many more months for us. And could require us having to fetch fresh documents from a corrupt government as some for the marriage visa have expiration dates.
- base698 7y agoHow will this effect existing H1Bs?
- dudul 7y agoWhy would current H1Bs be impacted? They already have their non-immigrant visa no?
- objclxt 7y agoThey'd be impacted if their visa is due for renewal.
- Symbiote 7y agoBritain has been extended some visas, recognizing that it's sometimes unreasonable (person from a country with more cases) or impractical (lack of flights) for people to leave when they expected to. The current extensions are only to 31 March, but maybe they will increase again after that. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-immigration-guidance-if-youre-unable-to-return-to-china-from-the-uk https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-immigration-guidance...
- amf12 7y agoNot unless they are outside the US. As long as they are in the US they can stay on an expired visa. The visa is just a travel document.
- oarla 7y agoFor someone already in USA on H1B, I expect there won't be much impact other than added delay, as the processing of H1B within USA is done over mail and not involve interviews.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoI’m gonna back pedal here and delete my earlier comment.
- efdee 7y agoI don't think you have a monopoly on scaring the shit out of everybody.
- iso1631 7y agoYour comment was pretty on the ball. It's also why it won't happen.
- beardedman 7y agoAgreed with your previous comment.
- chance_state 7y agoWhat did it say?
- beardedman 7y agoBasically what I've been "soap boxing" about. ;)
- jinushaun 7y agoGuess I’m not renewing my expiring passport any time soon… I’m a US citizen
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y agoConsular services for citizens (like passport renewals) will take priority over visas. A lot of countries like the Philippines are already loosening/waiving visa rules for foreigners stuck in the country though.
- dntbnmpls 7y agoVisa services are for non-citizens and that's being suspended. Services for citizens are still offered. So if you need to renew your US passport, you can still do it. Also as an added bonus, if you renew your passport through an overseas US embassy, you get it expedited without the extra charge. Meaning you can get your new passport in 2 or 3 weeks rather than months.
- tssva 7y agoIf you are in the US and need to renew your passport, it can also be done via the mail.
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- genidoi 7y agoI was just finalising some documents before booking an interview at the Melbourne consulate for an E3 work visa. I have no idea what to do now.
- prpl 7y agoEmail them, probably, ASAP. These things take some time to propagate some times.
- belval 7y agoAs a Canadian that was supposed to do an internship at FAANG this summer the situation is looking worse everyday. I know some managers at Microsoft are considering remote interns but it will be far from the same experience.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tstrimple 7y agoDepends on the org you'll be joining. All of the interns I worked with were remote, but I was part of the field division not corporate. Best of luck!
- giaour 7y agoIf you can, try to talk with your internship coordinator about your concerns and see if they have any contingency plans. I don't know which company your internship was with, but I recall interns having some flexibility in their placement at AWS. The company might be able to place you in Canada (AWS, for example, has a large presence in Vancouver).
- throwqwerty 7y ago>but it will be far from the same experience why do you think so? except for free food and the city life of whichever city you were supposed to be in, what's the difference?
- khuey 7y agoYou'll largely miss out on the social aspect of all the other interns, for one.
- throwqwerty 7y agodoes not being able to socialize qualify as "far from"?
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- AntonStratiev 7y agoWe need to just accept 2-4 million sick and elderly Americans dying. That outcome cannot be any worse than complete economic and social destruction that we seem to be pursuing in the name of virus suppression. Edit: I am specifically referring to the Imperial College report which outlines this scenario. Here is the original report: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/s... And here is a summary: https://twitter.com/jeremycyoung/status/1239975682643357696 https://twitter.com/jeremycyoung/status/1239975682643357696
- baq 7y agoi'd love to see your calculations for that. unless you're talking about a temporary uptick in grave digger openings.
- AntonStratiev 7y agoThe Imperial College report: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/s... Full suppression will require total shutdown for ~18 months. Mitigation, specifically requiring the sick and elderly to self-isolate and quarantinging COIVD-19 cases and their families, will result in 2-4 million dead (depending on its effectiveness), with the situation over in 3 months.
- Mediterraneo10 7y agoYour post is grim, but I suspect that some countries will make the same calculation as time goes by. Here in Poland, we saw one of the first lockdowns for a European country, but the lockdown stopped at closing the border, schools, large restaurants and malls. Other shops remain open (I just went hat shopping today, for instance), people are traveling between the city and their country homes, and the feeling seems to be now that if you want to avoid infection, it is your own responsibility to stay home instead of expecting the economy to shut down.
- beardedman 7y agoI struggle to see how bringing the economy (& everything around it) to a grinding halt will help. What happens when we "press unpause"? Do people really believe the virus won't be there afterwards?
- wolco 7y agoIt stops the spread of the virus. If you did nothing 5% would die and worse those that have recovered have problems breathing (can't walk up stairs). Life would come to a halt regardless.
- beardedman 7y agoNo offense, I know people who have recovered and none of them have any hint of anything afterwards.
- NikolaNovak 7y agoAnecdotes, Yay! :-) No offense.
- beardedman 7y agoNice. No offense.
- point78 7y agoEveryone...this guy knows some people who have recovered. We've been lied to, hospitals are NOT full. You may be on hacker news, but you definitely aren't smart.
- adrianN 7y agoPlease don't include personal attacks in your comments.
- mtmail 7y ago"Some recovered patients may have reduced lung function" https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3074988/coronavirus-some-recovered-patients-may-have https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/artic... (HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22568100 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22568100)
- rudle 7y agoHeadline is misleading as USCIS is suspending in-person visa operations. Renewals and transfers of US visas are often conducted via courier and post. From https://uscis.gov https://uscis.gov > As of March 18, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has suspended routine in-person services until at least April 1 to help slow the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). USCIS staff will continue to perform duties that do not involve contact with the public. However, USCIS will provide emergency services for limited situations. To schedule an emergency appointment contact the USCIS Contact Center.
- goatherders 7y agoAgreed. That's a pretty big omission by the OP
- dgemm 7y agoIt is the exact title used by the Reuters article. It's a pretty big omission but not by OP.
- goatherders 7y agoFair. Thanks
- scotty79 7y agoI panicked for a moment because I thought it's about Visa not US visa and it made no sense.
- beatgammit 7y agoWe don't want the virus to jump to cross the digital divide, so we're taking every precaution. Stay tuned for updates about MasterCard and Discover.
- kawfey 7y agoThis is probably a really huge blow to the Pleasant Green Youtube channel. Ben was trying to get a visa for a Cameroonian woman needing surgery in Miami, and now this. Hopefully they can get beyond it.