In life many things happen that are outside of our control, a pandemic is just one of them.
Here in Taiwan the virus has been exceptionally well controlled, there have been no local cases since April, and there have been less than 500 total cases in a country of a densely packed 23 million population. We feel safe here, the face masks have been doffed, life is surprisingly normal in spite of what's happening around the globe. The only things we have to fear here are earthquakes and typhoons.
If it were just Rex and me, we might be returning to the States, or maybe even have returned a few months ago. But now we have a baby, a six month old baby who loves to crawl all over the place and put everything into her mouth. We don't consider it worth the risk at this time to return to the States where the COVID cases keep going up. For this reason we have rented an apartment for six months in a smaller town that is cheaper and larger than our previous apartment.
But there is a slight dilemma. In order for Rex to make his living as a graduate student research assistant, he has to have authorization to work in the United States. He has a visa in his passport that allows him to enter the country, but he has to enter before August 17th in order to attain his green card and therefore resident status. This will make him able to work in research at UW Madison even while remaining physically here in Taiwan. Plane tickets are scarce, and travel is risky. If he is going to enter the US border, ideally he would have a direct flight there and back with no quarantine requirement upon arrival in the US.
Here is what our questions are:
- When is the absolute deadline for Rex to enter the US border?
- Upon arrival in the US, will Rex have to quarantine?
- Will the border patrol permit him to go through customs in an airport far away from the State where he later intends to take up residence, such as Guam or Hawaii? And will they further allow him to turn right back around, board the same plane, and return to Taiwan the same day he arrived?
- Are there any flights to Guam or Hawaii which are geographically closer than the mainland?
- How to prevent catching anything while riding on the plane and sitting in airports?
- Is there any other alternative to flying into the States?
- Upon return to Taiwan, what exactly are the quarantine requirements?
- Will it be better for Rex to stay in the apartment with me and the baby for his quarantine? Or will we have to find a way for me and the baby to stay somewhere else?
So we did some research, some really complicated research that took a couple of days of focused questioning, phone calls, reading, etc. I will give a summary at the end, but if you want to know something about the process, keep reading here.
Even though Rex has been working on research for his lab since several months ago, he hasn't gotten the offer letter and a start date until recently. The deadline on his visa to enter the US is August 17th, but he would have to submit a form to his school within three days of his start date (August 10th) in order to show his authorization to work in the States. That would mean his deadline for travel would be moved a bit sooner, to August 13th. But we were able to talk to the lady who sorts out these payroll matters and ask if Rex's start date could be moved to August 17th so that he has another week of options available to him for flights. The flights really are quite complicated right now as flights are scarce and most of them are twice as expensive as they normally would be.
And then Rex remembered that when he enters the States, the expiration date on his passport has to be no earlier than six months away. He would not be able to fulfill that requirement even now, so he had to make an errand to Taipei on Monday (7/27) to renew his passport paying an extra $30usd to expedite the process so he could get the new passport the next day.
But which port of entry should Rex go to? Guam does not currently require a quarantine for visitors coming from Taiwan if visiting for less than five days, but finding a flight to Guam means layovers in Korea and Japan. It is extremely difficult to find flights to Hawaii at this time, and I don't believe any of those would be direct flights, either. All direct flights to and from Taiwan land in the following cities: Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and (oh, what was the other one?) The cheapest of these would be Seattle for about 56,000 TWD, or $1,910 USD. But flying to Seattle also means a fourteen hour flight there, a space of ten hours in the airport and a 14 hour flight back. This would be a very long and tiring day for Rex. Would there be a transit hotel he can sleep in at the airport? This is another question to which we still need to find the answer.
We also learned that in Seattle, there is no quarantine requirement for anybody, only a quarantine recommendation, which in our case is ideal since Rex doesn't want to have to stay any longer than necessary. Because we couldn't find specific answers to some of our questions, we made a couple of phone calls to authorities in different places.
We called the border patrol in Guam.
"Is it a problem if I go through customs, turn around and get back on the same flight?"
"No," was the answer, "That would not be an issue."
We called the USCIS (United States Center of Immigration Services) and the American Institute of Taiwan (the substitute for a consulate here since Taiwan doesn't have diplomatic status).
"Will it be a problem if I enter the border without my wife with me?"
Again, "No, there is no such rule requiring your wife/petitioner to cross the border with you."
"Does this effect my wife's domicile requirement?" (I have to maintain domicile, or an intention to return to living in the States, in order to petition for Rex to become a resident.)
"No, it doesn't."
Oh, what a relief!
After some calculations, we realized that, although Guam is geographically closer, between all the layovers and flight changes, and the uncertainty of quarantine requirements in those layover locations, it turns out that flying to Seattle was still the best option.
So after returning to Taiwan, what are the quarantine requirements? We know that, of course, Rex has to be quarantined for fourteen days. We have a couple of friends who had to complete the quarantine, and they had the option of staying together with family in the same place, and their family could still come and go. One family chose to put the returning family member in a space of her own with bathroom, kitchen, everything she might need. Another couple we know, the husband and the wife simply shared the same apartment. But after a phone call to a government official, Rex was asked,
"Are there any elderly people in your home over the age of 65?'
"No, but we have a six month old baby who is not yet weaned."
"Oh, then you can't have contact with either of them for two weeks. You could stay in a special hotel, or your wife and baby could stay somewhere else, or you could stay in a room by yourself with your own bathroom. But when you receive meals, your wife would have to set it down, walk away, and then you could come and take the food."
Ok, so now my question is about dishes and laundry. How would we keep from spreading stuff around if I still have to complete those tasks?
At this time it looks as if I will learn what it feels like to be a single mom for a span of two weeks. I'll have to make all the food, all the coffee, do most of the chores with no help from anyone. Or perhaps I'll let Rex do all his own chores and stay with someone else for a time. I might have to postpone or cancel my teaching appointments that were going to be done in person in order to further prevent spread, this kind of thing. But we'll figure it out and muddle through.
In addition, we are very, very thankful for the new apartment with mountain views on each side. It makes it hard to feel like your stuck inside all day even if you don't get the chance to leave the house, or if you're in quarantine. The new apartment also has two bedrooms and a study, two bathrooms, a living room and dining room, as well as a kitchen and two balconies.
So here's the summary I promised you:
Rex will fly to Seattle next week Wednesday (8/5) and return to Taiwan right away arriving early in the morning on Friday (8/7). Then he will fulfill his two week quarantine with no contact with me or the baby. This will enable him to be paid for his research at UW Madison.
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