SARS and Consular Processing
Posted May 02, 2003

By now, most of our readers will have seen news reports on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that have been widely covered in the media. While the most heavily hit area of the globe is Asia, other places are also greatly affected by this new the pandemic disease. Toronto, Canada is one of the areas outside of Asia that has been directly affected by SARS. As of this writing, no consulates have been closed due to SARS. However, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) has advised travelers to check with consulates for schedules and procedures prior to departing the U.S.

Additional information about countries significantly affected by SARS can be found on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) WebSite, which includes travel alerts for various countries. If you must travel to one of those countries, it is recommended that you monitor yourself for SARS-like symptoms while there and for ten days after returning to the U.S. Therefore, it may be wise for a person traveling to one of those countries to plan for an additional ten days before returning to work, after reentering the U.S. This is recommended in order to monitor oneself and to ensure one does not have SARS and is not likely to infect friends or coworkers with the disease.

While most people exposed to SARS merely have flu-like symptoms, the deaths attributed to it are enough to warrant the CDC's attention. We caution MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers to proceed carefully with travel plans, paying attention to this issue. Although this is an issue of health, its potential impact from a U.S. immigration law perspective has caught our attention. One conceivably could be quarantined for having SARS-like symptoms and, therefore, be prohibited from boarding an airplane when his/her nonimmigrant visa (H1B, F-1, etc), reentry permit, or advance parole is about to expire. In case of a health emergency that could delay or prevent one's ability to travel on schedule, it would be prudent to plan for being abroad so that time on one's immigration status is not cut close.