ECCK

Today I received an emergency interview for the 12th of may at the Sydney consulate. I sent the request on the 29th of April. Hopefully everything goes well and all my documents are in order. 

@stephanie918 Thanks so much for your reply! I will take a look at virgin flights. I also saw on the US embassy website that United Airlines is flying Sydney to San Francisco daily.
 
@ECCK Hello I spoke to PetTraveller yesterday and they think they may be able to use QATAR Airways. I will let you know when they get back to me. I don't want to put my dogs on a super long haul flight so if I can't find a reasonable option I might wait until QANTAS resumes. 
 

that's not a bad quote! we were going to bring our dog with Jetpets and they quoted 2300 exclusive of some vaccinations and kennel to go from Melb to LA

@ECCK So glad you were able hear back from PetTraveller - they seem really nice to deal with so far. I haven't received my updated quote with Qatar airways - have you?

You're welcome to take a look at our immigration timeline on our page. But it was 2 business days. That's from Sydney to Melbourne.

No, death relating to covid. Aswell as Medical issues unrelated.

Email them again, it took us two emails to get a response as well. We waited 2 weeks to email again but in hindsight we should have emailed sooner.  After the second email they called him (in Australia) two days later and asked him if he was able to come in for an interview.

He said that he was looking to schedule an emergency interview. That his fiance needs to return to the workforce and that his fiance has been taking care of her family member with a heart condition. He said he was looking for an interview asap.   We didn't have to submit any evidence of the heart condition or anything. 

He used the "People who are travelling on urgent and unavoidable personal business."

The first time I sent it, they actually missed my email so I sent a follow up one week later to ask for a response. After that follow up email, they responded around 2 days later. They're pretty swamped right now, so if you haven't heard anything after a week I would email them asking for an update. Good luck! 

So I’m going to tell how the whole check-in, boarding and Immigration went. When I arrived to the KLM check-in desks in Madrid airport the lady asked me what I was going to do in Mexico City. I said I was going to visit a friend (which is true I guess because I’m staying with a family friend) and she said I can’t travel because that’s a “leisure” trip. I told her the borders in Mexico were open to tourism and she didn’t believe me and she kept saying “Well that could change in a day or even hours”. When I explained to her that I was traveling to the US from Mexico City she had me show her my K1 visa and the confirmation email for my flight to the US. She had me waiting about 20 minutes while she asked like 5 colleagues and researched it online because she clearly was clueless about the borders in Mexico (great professionalism). Finally after 20 minutes of literally thinking I was going to have to Uber back home she came back and told me I can go and gave me my boarding pass. I had to fill in a health questionnaire as well during check-in. When it was time to board there was again people asking everyone what they were doing in Mexico. This man didn’t want to let me board because (AGAIN) he was saying Mexico isn’t open for tourism. I then told him I wasn’t going for tourism and showed him my K1 visa on my passport and that I was just flying to the US from Mexico. I had to show him my flight to the US for him to let me board. When I finally sat on the plane I truly couldn’t believe it ahahah. When I landed in Amsterdam for my layover that was a breeze compared to Madrid. I got no questions asked during passport control besides “Where are you headed?”. Once I landed in Mexico City that was a whole different story. I waited in line for Immigration and I got sent for a secondary check. I told them what I was going to do this trip and it seemed like they knew about the “2 week” quarantine for europeans because I was actually not the only one coming for that purpose in my flight. He asked me if I intended to adjust status once I got to the US with my visa and I said “Uuhh.. I guess? but months later”. After all these questions I got sent into a room full of what seemed to be all the foreigners that were in my flight... We were mostly all from Europe. And I met this other Irish girl and British guy who were doing exactly like me. They both had work visas and were just traveling to Mexico to quarantine. We weren’t allowed to have our phones out and they made us fill a really long form about what we were going to do in Mexico and who we were staying with and what activities we were planning on doing. People from that room were getting called into an even smaller room for a short interview. And this wasn’t based on who arrived into the room first... This was based on how complex your case was... So I was freaking out a little because I was called in about 2 hours later. Once I went in I got told to sit down and this lady came and started asking me (again) what I was going to do here in Mexico so I explained to her that I was just staying at a friends house to quarantine and be able to fly to the US. I also told her my fiancé was coming on the 18th. She looked at my visa and asked me to show her my flight to the US. She then told me I could go back to the waiting room. About 5 minutes later I got called and I left the waiting room back into the immigration desk outside and a man stamped my passport and told me “Welcome to Mexico” and I honestly couldn’t believe it because I saw quite a few people getting refused entry. After that I went to get my baggage and left without any other problem. This wasn’t a pleasant experience at all especially when you’ve been awake for 24h and all that is going through your head is “Am I gonna have to sleep at the airport until I can get a flight back home?”. I’m just glad this is all over. Still got the hardest part though... which is entering the US. But after going through all this I’m not even scared anymore...
 
Note that the two other people who had work visas to enter the US were still in the waiting room when I left (and they actually arrived earlier than I did). I really hope they got into Mexico without a problem... I don’t know if having a K1 visa worked in my favor or not. That I will never know. But there shouldn’t be a difference hopefully.

Yup but since he was just traveling through it was no issue! I was stressing for no reason. 
 
After nearly 48 hrs of travel and 4 planes, he arrived here late last night! He said the CBP process is San Francisco was SUPER easy and lasted less than 5 minutes. 

Hi all
Does anyone know which airlines are still flying from Australia (Brisbane) to USA? I see that QANTAS have extended their flight cancellation period until July 😔
I am also trying to find out a way to send my two dogs over to LA but the pet transport company I planned to use have notified that they are unable to assist.
Any advice or information would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rosie
 
 
 

Quick update: Made it into Mexico!! It was not easy. I pretty much had to go through hell in both Madrid and Mexico. I will explain in detail tomorrow because I’ve been awake for 24h and I’m finally going to get some sleep now. I’m just excited and wanted to share the news. And the 2 week countdown begins now...

Wow thank you that's good to know!

Hey Justin,
surprisingly there were no tests at all.
They only sent me to an additional baggage check and that’s it!

There is typically a medical screening (not exam). This includes possibly taking your temperature and asking questions about symptoms.
Even the temperature one may be just via the thermal imaging areas you walkthrough upon arrival.

That's great to hear. I'm also planning to fly into Chicago Airport in a couple of weeks. Good to hear that they let you through with no problems! 

That's great to hear. I'm also planning to fly into Chicago Airport in a couple of weeks. Good to hear that they let you through with no problems! 

Hi everyone,
 
I was really confused and scared myself a couple of weeks ago, before coming to the  US, so hopefully this will help to others.
I have entered the States under K1 visa, 27 of April 2020, through Chicago Airport. 
The immigration officer mentioned this travel ban and for some reason he thought that my visit is work related but then after the explanation and a bunch of questions he let me in. 
So everything should be fine with K1 holders as long as they didn't travel to Europe or China within the last 14 days.
Good luck and stay safe!

Traveling to Mexico tomorrow morning! All checked in. Flight’s not been canceled fortunately. Hopefully they don’t cancel it last minute. Both nervous and excited. Praying that everything works out fine. Will keep you all posted - hopefully from Mexico next time ✌🏼

Land borders*. Air travel is not restricted. Please stop spreading misinformation. I’m the one traveling to Mexico. Currently on the plane. They let me check-in and board of course. I contacted both Mexican and US embassies to ask about the borders. Even contacted DOS and DHS.

We had an interview for urgent medical reasons. (Non covid).
We didn't have to show proof of the medical condition of the family member in the States.

Hi! Thanks for your reply. May I ask how were you able to get an interview in April? My Australian visa will expire in July and I don't have an interview date yet. I already paid, just waiting for an appointment. Is there a way to request for an appointment?
 
Thank you!
Thanks a lot!  

I used a pet relo and it was worth the money but there were also no custom fees. Husband still tells me here and there how many cats he could have gotten me for the money 😂😂