I am writing this post on behalf of a friend.

She is a Japanese citizen who was on a business trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, when the Coronavirus disrupted travel. She is there and would like to return home to Tokyo, Japan.

Earlier this week, she booked a flight via Istanbul. After completing the first leg, she was refused entry at Istanbul (for transit), and sent back to Tbilisi.

Can anyone suggest a way to reach Japan? Currently, we are seeing a potential flight with overnight layovers in Bahrain (BAH) and Abu Dhahi (AUH), but our worry is that she could be turned away again at immigration at either of those locations.

The UAE allows unlimited airside transit, if your friend can get there. From there Etihad is still operating daily to Narita for the following week at least.

What a lifesaver airline Etihad is:

PSA to visitors who are currently in Singapore- do not get sick ,you will not get medical help



https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus-moh-advises-doctors-in-singapore-to-stop-or-defer-accepting-non-resident

Is anyone else in a situation where potentially they are "stuck" but also risk overstaying their visa/visa-free stay? I'm in a country where everything is safe and relatively calm. I've been outside of my home country (U.S) for most of the last several years, so I don't have a "home" to come home to. At the same time with my current situation I only have less than 1 month remaining of my 90 day stay. I went to the Singapore immigration office the other day and it seems like there are virtually no options for extending my 90 day stay .. they said if there are less than three days remaining and if I can submit evidence of the emergency then they may be able to do something, but I won't know until the last three days. It would be daft to rush toward a more dangerous situation in the U.S especially when I have no home there to be isolated to, whereas with my girlfriend here in Singapore, everything is calm.. I could stay here longer, but I do not wish to overstay illegal. I've never overstayed before in any country and I don't intend to start now. I'm just wondering if anyone else is in the same boat? I'm tired of waking up everyday feeling anxious and nervous about which countries will close their borders next. All of the neighboring countries have already closed their borders.

Understand the situation, but better to prepare to leave. My information is that unless someone is very elderly AND have someone in Singapore who is citizen or PR, you will not get your visa extension.

At this moment Singapore doesn’t want ANY visitors, period.

Singapore just shut the border to all including transit. You should be fine as long as your transit is within the next 24h, but let's just say I think you made it just barely in time

Update - Singapore is banning arrivals for work visa holders as well, unless they work in ‘essential services’

https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highligh...covid-19-cases

Partner is Singaporean but we're unmarried. Immigration said they only recognize marriage and not domestic partnership. One reason I came back to stay with my partner is that I had planned to do a needed surgery for a medical issue. However, with everything happening, I have put that surgery on hold. The situation seems significantly worse in the U.S. I'm afraid I'd actually be a BURDEN in the U.S because I have no housing and no family to stay with when I get back. So finding housing in the middle of a crisis when states and cities are on lockdown really doesn't seem to make much sense. Whereas, in Singapore, I live with my partner.. there is no housing problem.. I am not a burden on Singapore as I have savings and spend a lot when I stay here. The situation here feels so calm and normal here. Whereas when I am forced to return to the U.S it will be like going into a massive hurricane. It's definitely very scary. I've already had multiple flights for April get cancelled. It's so stressful. I didn't plan to type all of this as a reply, but I don't know I feel so alone as everything keeps evolving everyday and it's getting more confusing and stressful.

I just don't know if I'm the only person in this kind of situation or if there are others out there. I have no "home" in my home country because I've been overseas for much of the last 20 years. I started a new relationship last year with a Singaporean and now I'm here. Had no idea the global crisis would hit like this.. I came back to Singapore before the crisis started. Yet I know I have to try to leave before the end of the 90 days even though 95% of flights are cancelled now and neighboring countries have all closed their doors limiting options dramatically. It would make more sense and be safer if I could stay here longer, but at the same time I realize that I need to do all I can to avoid overstaying.

Well this is worrisome. Guess I'll just stick to my plan of not getting sick.

Maybe you can do a visa run by doing a roundtrip to HK without entering. You have 24h until the ban starts.

Understand. Your only chances to stay now past your tourist visa is either get married and apply to LTVP or get business/work visa. Considering the situation, latter falls into �very unlikely� category.

If you can find a flight back to the US, I would seriously consider that. Yes, the situation is getting worse here, but it’s not uniformly bad. And if you wait another week or two, it will be worse. I’d consider renting a standalone AirB&B cabin or something in a state away from the coasts that isn’t densely populated. Something like Wyoming or Montana. Rent a car for a month. Stock up on groceries. Get a ton of Kindle books. Stay away from people. If you like fishing, find a place where that is an option. Or if you like hiking...

+1

This is a tough one. You hear stories of the previous generations escaping the wars and now we have come down to this.

I don't know anything about Singapore immigration or law. However, you would think given what is going on, they can be reasonable. In normal situations, do they allow extending the stay? (It is still not a long term solution...)

Updates:

• Singapore just announced no foreigners for transit or entry after 23:59 on Monday. So,now at least we know when OP must return to SIN if he/she leaves
• TW just announced no transit passengers from 24 MAR 00:00.

Would this be possible...buy 3 separate tickets:

1 - SIN-TPE on BR or CI
2 - TPE-USA on BR or CI
3 - TPE-SIN on any airline, preferably SQ

#1 and #2 must be on the same airline but separate tickets (for refund). #3 must be on a different airline - preferably SQ as they would probably be the last one to cancel any TPE-SIN flight. Reason to keep #3 on a different airline is you avoid the dupe suspect programs they have (as you will also hold a TPE-USA reservation).

1 - Have SIN check you in all the way SIN-TPE-USA - since you are American, you should be allowed
2 - Upon arrival TPE, go to the Transit Desk, cancel TPE-USA and check in for TPE-SIN (SQ probably has a ground agent to do this at the transit desk)
3 - Go upstairs and fly back to SIN

Can probably do the same thing with CX and HKG is a little closer.

It will cost some money and you got to get the timing right...Risk is if anything goes wrong and [MENTION=567252]treepuppy[/MENTION] does not get back to SIN 23:59 on 3/23... And need to be prepared to have to come to the US for a while just in case (i.e. bring medicine, credit cards, driver's license and other papers).

The US is not as bad as people in Asia think. Yes, there are trouble spots and we squandered away weeks of valuable time to prepare for this because we have a.... However, it is a big country and there are plenty of safe parts (and cheap to settle in).

This is good advice. Any rural area will be like normal and as long as you have internet you will be as connected as everyone else.