I absolutely believe you. Honestly, anyone paying even a tiny bit of attention would see it. Just chilling
Travel confusion and a bewildering set of restrictions continue. Worse than I thought. Covid-19 is having a sever impact on the ability of families living in multiple countries to see each other at all.
Turns out that my ex-wife cannot visit her son in the U.S. at all, not even if she self-isolates here for 14 days. She called the U.S. embassy and also spoke to someone at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While the Netherlands does allow all foreign parents, siblings, or spouses of Dutch citizens to visit the Netherlands (no age limits or other restrictions) and then follow coronavirus protocol, the U.S. only allows parents or siblings from Schengen zone countries to visit if the person being visited is under 21 and unmarried. All other visits are completely barred.
Does any of this make sense? No. I’ve grown accustomed over the years to U.S. policies in particular making little sense. The arbitrariness and lack of evidence-based policy is infuriating. Some of it appears to be purely politically driven. The U.K. is not in Schengen, so the rules would not apply to British citizens visiting their sons or daughters in America. But, because the Netherlands is part of Schengen the rules are different. Does this have anything to do with coronavirus prevalence? No. Because if it did, the U.S. would be stricter vis-a-vis the U.K. than the Netherlands.
The age cutoff of 21 is somewhat arbitrary. The marital status bit is just bizarre.
But, nothing is more bizarre than the IRS including in its 1040 instructions booklet the following on kidnapped children:
“Parents may claim a kidnapped child as a dependent if two conditions are met.
First, the child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a family member.
Secondly, during the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the child must have lived at the taxpaying parent’s same principal place of residence for more than one-half of year before the date of the kidnapping.”
I’ve always filed that one away as “only in America.”
Again chilling. I’ve spoken of my friend in NYC whose family is in Sweden. She will not be able to attend her dads funeral. He was a dear friend of Macs family from time time Mac was a coupleof years old. And in turn became a dear friend of mine even though an ocean had kept us from meeting.
Joshua thank you for your posts here. They bring things into a chilling perspective but perspective all the same
8-29 C-19 ready…
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
One of the many reasons I worry about our country’s future – overt mixing of politics and science, which may shape decisions at FDA. I know several high-ranking FDA civil servants well. They’re dedicated, excellent scientists. They’re also being undermined, sometimes by people without a science background: https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/27/trump-has-launched-an-all-out-attack-on-the-fda-will-its-scientific-integrity-survive/
I absolutely believe you. Honestly, anyone paying even a tiny bit of attention would see it. Just chilling
Travel confusion and a bewildering set of restrictions continue. Worse than I thought. Covid-19 is having a sever impact on the ability of families living in multiple countries to see each other at all.
Turns out that my ex-wife cannot visit her son in the U.S. at all, not even if she self-isolates here for 14 days. She called the U.S. embassy and also spoke to someone at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While the Netherlands does allow all foreign parents, siblings, or spouses of Dutch citizens to visit the Netherlands (no age limits or other restrictions) and then follow coronavirus protocol, the U.S. only allows parents or siblings from Schengen zone countries to visit if the person being visited is under 21 and unmarried. All other visits are completely barred.
Does any of this make sense? No. I’ve grown accustomed over the years to U.S. policies in particular making little sense. The arbitrariness and lack of evidence-based policy is infuriating. Some of it appears to be purely politically driven. The U.K. is not in Schengen, so the rules would not apply to British citizens visiting their sons or daughters in America. But, because the Netherlands is part of Schengen the rules are different. Does this have anything to do with coronavirus prevalence? No. Because if it did, the U.S. would be stricter vis-a-vis the U.K. than the Netherlands.
The age cutoff of 21 is somewhat arbitrary. The marital status bit is just bizarre.
But, nothing is more bizarre than the IRS including in its 1040 instructions booklet the following on kidnapped children:
“Parents may claim a kidnapped child as a dependent if two conditions are met.
First, the child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a family member.
Secondly, during the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the child must have lived at the taxpaying parent’s same principal place of residence for more than one-half of year before the date of the kidnapping.”
I’ve always filed that one away as “only in America.”
Again chilling. I’ve spoken of my friend in NYC whose family is in Sweden. She will not be able to attend her dads funeral. He was a dear friend of Macs family from time time Mac was a coupleof years old. And in turn became a dear friend of mine even though an ocean had kept us from meeting.
Joshua thank you for your posts here. They bring things into a chilling perspective but perspective all the same
8-29 C-19 ready…