Where is the anger?
 

I'm in several British expat groups and I feel like I am in the minority with my frustrations over Biden's travel ban.

We haven't been able to get over to the UK for 2 years. I live in fear of my UK family getting sick. My mother has chronic health issues, as does my sister. I can go there and help out, but I won't get back to my home in the US, not without a ridiculous layover on the way back that I can't afford. My kids won't get back to school, and I won't get back to my work. I am on an L-1 visa in a 'non-critical' industry, so NIEs are not an option for me.

My kids grandparents have missed birthdays, other life events and everything in between. I went through major surgery here and we had to rely on the help of only one two friends who live nearby. We are extremely stressed by all of this.

We've done our part. Both my wife and I got our vaccines. We wear our masks everywhere.

I want to live here and I want my kids to have a better life, but I am so fed up of paying in to the US economy and getting nothing back. I work in a specialized industry and pay a fortune in taxes here.

But what do we get? No stimulus, no child tax credits, and no way back to our family in the UK that won't cost a fortune. When I see Biden's family holidaying in Europe, my frustration boils over.

I feel like a second class citizen and I don't even think we are an afterthought for Biden.

Where do we go from here? I've composed letters, I've sent tweets, I've tried to make phone calls. When will this administration listen to the pain they are causing and "follow the science" like they say they do?

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I'm afraid that the problem is not that you are a second class citizen. It's that you aren't a citizen. Or even a permanent resident. This land of immigrants is not set up to give all immigrants the same rights.

The travel situation can't stay like this for ever, but there seems to be very little rush to change things and while covid is running rampant through the US there is no political impetus to change the rules, even though logically speaking there is very little in the way of covid that you might possibly bring back from the UK that isn't already here.

I sympathise with being stuck. I don't know if you are in a minority, but we can hope that pressure from the travel industry will change things.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I also sympathize with you, and share your anger at the Covid travel ban. I am a dual citizen and can travel to the UK and back, but my family cannot travel here.

As we all know the UK/EU Covid travel ban no longer makes any sense. However, President Biden is very unlikely to change the ban on EU/UK residents until it benefits him politically and with his current approval ratings that is not going to happen any time soon. If he will gain approval (and votes) by relaxing the ban he will, if he cannot he won’t. Unfortunately the vast majority of the voting US population does not travel internationally, or have overseas family, therefore there is little upside for him to relax the travel ban. That is not a partisan comment, it is just a sad fact. Tweeting, emailing, etc will make no difference because very few US voters are impacted by the ban.

I can understand your anger at your situation where you feel you are contributing to the US economy and getting nothing back but many US citizens with a decent income pay a fortune in taxes with no child tax credit, stimulus, etc so you are far from alone there, and other than the lopsided travel ban Covid has impacted most developed countries in the same ways so it is not in any way unique to the US. In fact in many countries the day to day situation is far worse. In that respect I have been grateful to be captive in the US versus many other countries, the UK included.

Ultimately, you have to decide if the benefits of living here outweigh the disadvantages. One would assume they do, as you could otherwise go back to the UK which is also far from perfect.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Being angry at something you can't change won't help the situation. Everyone in some way has been impacted by this pandemic. At least keeping in contact with family is easier now with Skype and FaceTime. It won't last forever. Eventually you will have a wonderful reunion. Just try and stay calm and think positive thoughts.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

hi, I am in a similar position to you re travel to UK and family. It is infuriating that residents who go to school, work and pay taxes in USA are treated like tourists, whilst my American friends are swanning all over Europe and London on vacation!! we have had stimulus cheques tho and I have appts this month with the IRS to get my kids ITINs so they can get their tax credits.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

You have my sympathy. Stuck here in Australia, since the start of this no citizen or permanent resident has been allowed to leave the country at all, unless the government considers it "a compelling reason" - and trust me, most requests for end-of-life visits and funerals are not considered compelling. This is not expected to change until sometime next year, at least. Then there are caps on the number of people allowed to enter - approx 300-400 per WEEK for the entire country, so even if you can get out, the chances of getting a flight back are low, with many being bumped off several times before they manage to get here, where they then do two weeks imprisonment before being allowed to their homes. Many have been stuck in other countries for over a year and can't get back, jobs are gone, they are homeless, its soul destroying.
I'm now counting the major events for which I should have been home. Now coming up to the third one, by the time we might be allowed to fly I will be up to around eight at least. I'm getting older and less mobile, my mother is in her mid eighties and I am starting to try and come to terms with the fact we will probably never meet again, even if I can get there one day to see the other people I love.

Being completely alone in a foreign country is not fun, I really feel for you. If anyone asks me now, I would never advise anyone to emigrate.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I sympathise, we're having the same problem the other way, we were supposed to be moving to the US in July but obviously haven't been able to. We've been in limbo for over a year, and now it can't happen for 18+ months as our daughter has just started A Levels so no way we're going to move her until those are done. Our whole life has been on hold and there's been a lot of 'there's no point if we're moving to the US' etc. But we're healthy, and ok financially, so I know we could be far worse off, and there are others that have been much more impacted by the pandemic than us.

Could you meet your family in a third country maybe? Have a couple of weeks together in Canada for example? Open to both Brits and US residents now. Not sure how feasible it is for your mother to travel, but maybe some other family members?

Re: Where is the anger?
 

We should not be complaining. The UK is lucky to still be on the visa waiver program it has been really close to being removed a few times and they meant it.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Agree 100% with everyone above. I am intending to bounce via Canada for Christmas this year. Will be almost exactly 2 years since I last went.

Also, RE: NIEs there's some talk online that you might not think you're eligible for one, but you could well be. Unfortunately, you have to leave the US to try :)

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Really struggling to feel indignant when thousands of people are still dying everyday of COVID....

Re: Where is the anger?
 

If one is fully vaccinated and follows all the protocols in place - then travel isn't the cause of that. It's easy to say if you're lucky enough to be a USC and if you need to travel for some unexpected reason you can.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Yes, I've noticed that many people in the online groups are US Citizens or Permanent Residents, and so in their eyes there is no travel ban, or at least not one that affects them personally.

Yep, me too.

You and I are not even first class citizens, let alone a second class one. We aren't even permanent residents, let alone citizens.

It's frustrating that we live here and pay taxes and we have to jump through hoops that other people don't, but at the end of the day there's not really much we can do other than to accept it.

We don't go anywhere from here, because the harsh reality is that nobody cares about us and nobody is going to care about us, as the optics of allowing foreign nationals who are working US jobs to freely travel in and out of the country whilst so many Americans (who have voluntarily chosen not to be vaccinated...) are dying would be, to put it bluntly, not great in the current political climate.

If you can't qualify for an NIE then you can either visit your family with a two week stopover before returning to the US, or your family can make the two week stopover before coming here to see you.

I too have missed birthdays, anniversaries and other family events and it's deeply painful to see all the happy photographs and to you know that YOU are the thing that's missing, and that those moments will never come again.

It's not possible for my family to visit me due to the logistics of work commitments and young children, so I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll be taking an extended vacation next year in order to visit them.

I'm angry that so many of the willingly unvaccinated are contributing to this situation and that it will persist into the foreseeable future, but it's not like there's much you can really do to change the reality of it all.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I believe the frustration stems from the fact that the vast majority of the people dying from COVID in the US are people who have voluntarily chosen not to be vaccinated.

We know that the vaccines are safe, that they vastly reduce your risk of hospitalization or death and that they DO help reduce your likelihood of contracting the virus in the first place.

This is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated, however the rest of us still have to live with the consequences of that.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

This is nothing but parroting a talking point. I agree that people should be vaccinated, but it is flagrantly not true that 'this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated' A huge percentage of the world has not even had the chance to get a single shot, let alone be fully vaccinated.

I would personally keep restrictions as they are until the latest Delta wave dies down, and don't feel any indignation against Bidens stance.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

"You pays your money and you takes your choice" . . . we made the decision to move to this country, and that decision will impact every aspect of the rest of our lives, for better and for worse. All we can do at times like this is get on with life -- and keep that stiff British upper lip! As has been pointed out, at least nowadays we can still see our loved ones via online meetings.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Exactly! There are always going to be birthdays and weddings and family get together that you will miss when you live in another country especially when you are still working. You have to accept it.

Fair enough, this situation is different right now so the OP needs to either accept it or pack your bags and move back. If you want your life here to be successful then I wouldn't recommend the second choice!

Re: Where is the anger?
 

We're not talking about the rest of the world though, we're explicitly talking about Brits in the US that wish to visit the UK.

The fact that there's people elsewhere in the world who haven't had a single dose yet is awful - and we should absolutely be working to get them vaccinated - but I really don't see what that has to do with travel between the US and the UK.

In the context of the conversation it absolutely is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

You assume that everyone that flies between the US and UK is FROM the US or UK.

A faulty assumption.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Yes, but the restrictions were originally purported to have been introduced to stop the spread of COVID back when there were no vaccines, no treatments and we really didn't know what we were dealing with.

Now that we DO have effective, safe vaccines that are freely available to everyone it really makes little sense to continue the restrictions for non-immigrant visa holders who are vaccinated, all the whilst US Citizens and Permanent Residents (many of who are not vaccinated and have no intention of getting vaccinated) have been able to freely travel in and out of the UK all along.

The indisputable fact is that ICUs here in the US aren't full of people retuning from their holidays or foreign nationals who have visited their families, they are full of Americans who have explicitly chosen not to take a freely available vaccine.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

So exempt those who can prove US residency, or implement one of a thousand other ways in which the ban could be relaxed if this was genuinely driven by science.

It's an Executive Order; it can literally be changed at the stroke of a pen.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

True, but vaccination status can be easily checked on boarding or arrival rather than a blanket ban. At the moment, no one who isn't American is flying to the US from the UK (or Europe).

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Permanent residents can also enter the US freely, not just citizens.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I am not sure if I am understanding, you say because you are British you are not allowed to fly back to the UK from the USA. I know two sets of UK families who left from LAX and flew to Heathrow and they have spent time in the UK this past August visiting their families back there in the UK and they came back to the US without any issues. They all had UK passports and green cards.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Key part here being green card holder, there's lots of us here on temporary work visas such as L-1, H-1, E-2 etc who can't do that.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

And that's the difference - only citizens and green card holders are currently allowed to enter the US from the UK, plus a limited bunch of other people (spouses of US citizens etc). The rest of us are subject to the travel ban that's been in place since March 2020. The OP appears to be on a work visa, so isn't exempt from the travel ban unfortunately.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

This is one of the big disadvantages to living/working in a foreign land. The rules and regulations under which a person decides to do so can, and are, changed at the stoke of a pen. If someone is on a work visa there is a element of insecurity attached to that arrangement. People tend to make the assumption that things will remain the same but sometimes the uncontrollable throws a spanner in the works.

I haven't seen my sons in the UK for over 2 years. One grand daughter I haven't even met yet in person. While the regulations allow us to travel, Mrs L is in a high risk group and we are not prepared to take the risk, so I too feel somewhat imprisoned. If Biden is wrong and keeps the regulations in place at worse he inconveniences a lot of people. If he removes the regulations and is wrong he may well increase the number of deaths.

There is little much of us can do about it, but at the moment life has dealt those of us who decided to leave their homeland and live elsewhere a bad hand.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I haven't seen my son in over 2 years either. We can't go because of medical issues and my son who has just had his second vaccine will have to wait until he can take enough time off because of work commitments. Jobs right now are important, especially full time work and as much as I want to hug him Sunday Skype time is all we have right now! We are looking at Christmas now unless something changes:fingerscrossed:

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I probably sit on the other side of the fence… I think there should have been more travel restrictions, including for USC, probably close to the NZ model with proper quarantine enforced on arrival for all. I am a dual citizen and could have traveled and did not because I did not think any of the family stuff was a good enough reason vs. the population health risk.

Your not a second class citizen, your an alien, they only start treating you more like a citizen when you have a path to citizenship/voting , aka have your green card.. and citizenship is your to loose..

I don’t understand your other points, if you were under the AGI level of $150k to be eligible to receive any stimulus check you are not really paying a fortune in taxes… if your earning more than the limit you would not qualify a citizen either… having moved from working in Ireland and the UK I can tell you that I found US income taxes to be lower than both of them once your take in to account all the deductions and allowances and look at the effective rate paid.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Re: Where is the anger?
 

We're British citizens who don't have our GCs yet. We have L-1 visas. Apparently, L-1 visa holders who have resided in the US for years, and gotten vaccinated in the US, are as much a threat to the US COVID recovery efforts as unknown tourists.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

The $150k AGI is for married… and it’s $75k if filling single.. so by either metric it sounds like you don’t qualify.

The current administration has basically continued the policies of the previous administration, keeping EO’s and restrictions in places for visa holders, aside for making NIE’s multiple entry, not sure what’s inconsistent ?

Re: Where is the anger?
 

Wrong and wrong.

Extended child tax credits phase out over $150k AGI, they do not stop. See: https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductio...yments-in-2021

Biden introduced a travel ban, he did not continue anything from Trump. See: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...virus-disease/

Re: Where is the anger?
 

I think no one should be flying for leisure or family reunions at the moment. There are too many unknowns. Also, several European countries have now reintroduced travel bans.

Covid restrictions started the day I was going to fly with my granddaughter to the UK in 2020. She was going to meet her great grand-dad for his 84th birthday for 1st time, but she wouldn't have seen him even if we had flown out that day as they had already lock-down seniors citizens by then. So I decided pre-emptively that I had to forego the trip. Covid was getting out of hand even by then. My Dad died in Oct 2020. Am I sad I never got to see him again? Yes! But I accepted a long time ago that I wouldn't get there if anything happened to them or the rest of the family. So Covid was just another wrinkle. Next week, my eldest niece is getting married, I had hoped to be there, but it was not to be. I could travel as I am a US citizen. I decided that there were too many unknowns about the vaccine effectiveness and the continued evolution of Covid to risk travelling that distance.
I remember when I came to the USA in 1988 (for a brief nine months), and there was no way to be instantly in touch with your family in the UK other than a long-distance phone call that was too expensive to do too often. So airmail was the only way to keep in regular contact. So imagine if a pandemic had come along at that time. But then, people would have understood the urgency of the situation and rallied around. If a vaccine had come along in record time, as this one did, people would have queued up at the door 24 hrs of the day—none of this vaccine hesitancy.

I am sorry your family hasn't got to each for nearly two years. Moving to another country involves many sacrifices, as you have found out. Just think of how lucky you are to have your immediate family (sons/daughters/wife) with you. You still have so many ways of keeping in touch with your UK family through technology that wasn't even available a few years back. I am sure there are plenty of refugees that would love to be in that situation.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

It was Trump that introduced the ban on entry from the UK, back in March 2020 (https://www.fragomen.com/insights/alerts/president-trump-adds-ireland-and-united-kingdom-covid-19-travel-ban-effective-1159-pm-edt-monday-march-16)

Biden extended it in January 2021. https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...ronavirus.html

HTH.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

we feel the frustration also, its not just Biden, its the current /previous admin policy.
we feel it for similar reasons, 2 dead relatives recently, unable to visit since at least 2yrs (last time in uk), new child in u.s, all un abled to visit grandparents, one of who has terminal sickness (albeit slow moving) a hug would be nice, right!. We are L1's, marooned unless you take a one way ticket , like majority of 'non residents'.

on the flip side, I personally believe that the best global policy is not to travel, if 1 can travel, thousands will and that will probably be a catalyst for the virus.
However, I am fully agreeing it is totally biased and corrupt they let citizens go and come as they please, they should be stopped also, the thought of one U.S citizen going to the U.K and killing one of my family is not a good one.

Re: Where is the anger?
 

The original EO for China and then Iran etc was extended to EU, UK etc in mid March 2020, if not your not being being able to travel for 2 years would not be accurate, Biden admin only started on Jan 20th this year.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51891662




There were different levels of phase out for each, did not really look at the details, if your total AGI was less than $200k you may have seen something:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/th...ks-11615303520

Re: Where is the anger?
 

That's mostly right, but there's a key point to make here: Trump briefly lifted the ban on travel from the UK before leaving office, and Biden reinstated it. Biden did not extend or continue this ban. It was his very own presidential proclamation. I think it's important to state this because even though I agreed with the ban in January, I am now seeing the defence of "ah well it was Trump's thing anyway".

Re: Where is the anger?
 

thats all kind of semantics, and likely due to how the EO process works.

I don’t know if Trump lifted the ban at all, if he did it was the wrong thing to do.

It is not a defence, it is the presidents job to protect USC, whoever he/she/they are.

Trump should have put in place a more extensive travel ban sooner, and then put in place a system of enforced quarantine/testing for anyone who really did need to travel (at their own/employers cost, not the tax payer) look at places like NZ and the infections and deaths per capita there compared to the US…


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...30f84e854.jpeg

Re: Where is the anger?
 

hate comments like this when people are simply missing their loved ones. For every bad situation, we can all give examples of a worse case scenario....

Re: Where is the anger?
 

As a parent of a US citizen, you can come and go as you please, just like US citizens and LPRs. You're not subject to the travel ban. However, any non-US citizen kids that you might have still are, I think.