The rapidly spreading Coronavirus outbreak continued to upend life across the world, as more countries tightened quarantine measures. Schools, offices, cinemas, restaurants, and many stores remain closed across the globe, and dozens of countries are shutting their borders or implementing mandatory self-isolation stints for travelers arriving from abroad.
Latest Coronavirus news
The novel Coronavirus has infected more than 182,400 people and killed over 7,100 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of deaths outside China has now surpassed those within it. As the Coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, countries across the globe are declaring a state of emergency, closing their borders and entering lockdown. New travel restrictions mean it’s getting harder to get in and out of countries.
Timeline of travel bans during the Coronavirus outbreak
Since the World Health Organization announced the Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic,
countries around the world have been revising their entry policies and imposed
quarantines and entry bans for citizens or visitors of the most affected areas of the epidemic. Italy has shut down travel to the entire country, passengers arriving as tourists are not allowed to enter the country.
Trump suspends travel from Europe, the United Kingdom, and Ireland to the U.S. These restrictions will remain in place for 30 days. Canada has closed all its borders to all travelers who are not citizens, permanent residents, or U.S. citizens.
More and more countries are taking extreme steps to halt the influx of travelers, who may be carriers of the virus, into their countries. The increase in the global spread of the Coronavirus means that we are still to see more extreme travel bans and security measures take place.
How a second passport could have helped at the beginning of
the outbreak
During times of crisis, be it pandemics, wars, natural disasters, or otherwise, the primary inducer of panic is the feeling of losing control. People who are so settled into their lives and have their routines planned out suddenly find themselves amid uncertainty and danger, with a sense of helplessness and lack of control. Thrusts the masses into dismay and, in some cases, utter hysteria.
A second passport is by no means a solution to a pandemic such as the Coronavirus. Nor is it a safeguard against uncertainty or danger. It is, nevertheless, a useful apparatus to retain just a fragment of control in the most turbulent of times. It may not
be a solution, but it does, even for a brief window, offer the holder something extremely scarce in times like these.
Foreigners living in China, especially in Wuhan, faced the grim prospect of having to deal with the Coronavirus epidemic that swept through the Asian country like a frenzied wildfire on their own. Students away from their families, people on business trying to seal a deal, or even tourists that luck ran out on, all stuck in a foreign country during the lockdown and an unknown disease rampaging about. In times like these, an embassy or consulate of one's home country is much more valuable than ever.
Stories emerged of how each foreign embassy in China dealt with the frantic evacuation of their subjects, some worked better than others, but all of them did their jobs. Then stories began to emerge about those with dual nationality, who had the choice of which embassy, which country they wanted to flee to. An American-German student in Wuhan, China could not make the flight arranged by the American embassy back home, so he called the German embassy, and they arranged for him to leave through them. If he was not lucky enough to be a dual citizen, he would have faced the daunting reality of staying alone in Wuhan till this pandemic took its course. Luckily enough, though, he had that second passport locked and loaded. He had that second lifeline; he had a choice.
With the Coronavirus outbreak still at full flow, the priority at this time is to stay safe and practice social distancing. The world will eventually revert to its normal state, and life shall resume its mundane routine, which we have now come to value and cherish.
When that time eventually does come, many will have noticed the difference a second passport made throughout these direst of times. Second citizenship is not only about visiting your favorite summer destination visa-free, but much, much more than that, and this crisis, as horrid as it may be, has shed some light on that undeniable truth.
If you are interested in learning more about second passports, check out Reach Immigration’s comprehensive pages on options the likes of Dominika, Malta, St. Kitts and Nevis, Kıbrıs Rum Kesimi, & more.