March 17, 2020
Dear Colleagues:
We are closely following the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the campus response and wanted to reach out to you with important updates.
- BIO Services: BIO staff on the J scholar team and employment-based teams are working remotely through April 7, following campus guidance. While we continue to process cases remotely, the documents will not be mailed out nor submitted to USCIS until the campus re-opens. Because cases cannot be sent out you can anticipate delays to our normal processing times. However, you may continue to submit cases and we will process them until the final mailout stage.
- Scholar Advising: BIO continues advising services to our international scholars through phone and video conferencing.
- Scholars who are overseas and have not yet started their programs: The U.S. Department of State has provided guidance to defer the start dates for all scholars overseas who have not yet started their programs and have start dates earlier than May 10, 2020. BIO will defer the programs in such cases and we will issue a new Form DS-2019 when a revised appointment approval with a new start date is submitted to BIO and after BIO is able to ship out documents.
- Scholars who have arrived recently in the United States: Scholars who have arrived in the U.S. recently and have not yet attended an in-person Scholar Information Meeting will be provided instructions to access a Scholar Information Webinar that has recently been developed. For the remainder of the Spring Semester (until May 15) in-person Scholar Information Meetings are being suspended and replaced with the virtual webinar. The Scholar Status Report Form should continue to be used by those submitting requests to our office to report the scholar’s arrival.
- Scholars who have ongoing programs: It is particularly important right now for host departments and host faculty to be actively monitoring the welfare of their current international scholars and communicating with them regarding how their unit is responding to campus guidance as it relates to the COVID-19 response.
- DS-2019 start dates: In accordance with U.S Department of State guidance along with operational constraints, new DS-2019 requests for overseas scholars shall have start dates at least 60 days into the future from the date that the complete request is submitted to BIO. If BIO receives a request with dates outside of this timeframe the case will be put on hold until the revised dates are established and an updated appointment approval is provided.
- Immigration Policy Updates: You can keep up to date with the latest immigration policy updates on our website. Over the weekend a new travel ban was announced impacting foreign nationals who have been physically present in the United Kingdom or Ireland during the 14-day period preceding their entry. We sent communications to our international scholar population to alert them to this new travel suspension. In addition to this, the previously announced travel suspensions for any foreign national (except the immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents and others excluded in section 2 of the proclamations) who was physically present within Iran, China, and the European Schengen Area during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States continue to be implemented until further notice.
BIO remains committed to supporting our international community during these challenging times, and we will provide additional updates as new information unfolds. Please continue to review updates, resources and Frequently Asked Questions on our Coronavirus Updates & FAQ page
Sincerely,
Ivor Emmanuel
Director
Berkeley International Office