Coronavirus Diaries: My Green Card Interview Was Canceled

Coronavirus Diaries is a series of dispatches on Slate exploring how the coronavirus is affecting people’s lives. The latest installment offers insights into how the pandemic is affecting the issuance of immigrant visas.  It begins as follows:

“For months, my husband and I have been preparing for an interview with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services for my green card. . . . . But then, on March 18, I received a call from my immigration lawyer. She told me that my interview, which was scheduled for April 1, has been canceled.

USCIS has suspended `routine in-person services’ in response to COVID-19, and it has not announced if there will be a video appointment option. As of this writing, USCIS has extended the cancellation of in-person appointments through May 3, though its website indicates that it can be extended even further.

I was an international student for nearly six years, working toward my Ph.D. in chemistry, which I earned in February. Graduate school was tough. I often worked late nights and weekends. I haven’t been home—Seoul, South Korea—for more than four years, mostly because my grueling work consumed all my time . . . . 

But then even after completing my Ph.D., I couldn’t risk visiting home. After marrying my U.S. citizen boyfriend of four years in January last year, we filed a petition for my green card—officially known as a permanent resident card. My travel restrictions became more stringent. I was unable to leave the country because my green card case could be considered abandoned if I did. Border agents have the discretion to bar anyone who’s not a citizen from reentering the country at any time. Considering the current administration’s track record on immigration issues, my lawyer advised me not to leave the country unless there is a family emergency.” (bold added).

KJ