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Similar but not so similar to this question - What happens when a town is under quarantine and my visa expires

This is a generic question which sparkles out of the currently ongoing events in Wuhan, China: US and Japan currently flying their citizens out of Wuhan. EU will be doing the same shortly for their citizens.

In cases like such, where with the help of an embassy an airlift is arranged and you're taken out of the country, what happens to your immigration record/status?

If you've received an entry stamp into your passport, would anyone be there to give you an exit stamp and possibly add the exit information into their computer systems? (Especially in this case, I believe there is a ban on (commercial?) flights out of Wuhan, so I don't believe there will be many immigration officers at hand in an empty airport? I assume these flights take place from some airport.)

Is there a chance you could end up technically overstaying in the country even though you are no longer there anymore? Would there be a way to correct this if that happens?

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    Surely the suspension of commercial flights does not result in the complete closure of the immigration office. Even if it did, the immigration officers ought to be able to be recalled to the airport to handle the departing evacuation flight, which will certainly not be arriving or departing unannounced.
    – phoog
    Commented Jan 29, 2020 at 0:41
  • You are wrongly assuming you won’t pass immigrations just cause of evac, immigrations is still in place as usual
    – Matt Douhan
    Commented Jan 29, 2020 at 5:13

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It is very unlikely that you would be permitted to leave China without going through Chinese exit passport control (and therefore getting an exit stamp). An evacuation flight does not bypass passport controls in place by the host country.

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  • Exactly right. This morning, the local paper ran an AP story that contained this: Some of those expected on the flight from Wuhan were not allowed to board because they did not have documents they needed to enter the U.S., Braden said. One person with a fever also was denied boarding, he said.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Jan 30, 2020 at 15:19
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Is there a chance you could end up technically overstaying in the country even though you are no longer there anymore?

Generally, no. Technically, your stay in a country ends when you cross its borders. One might be administratively suspected of overstaying if there is no exit record, but technically you're out of the country so you're not overstaying. The laws I'm familiar with (which admittedly do not include China) penalize people for staying in the country too long. The lack of an exit record may be evidence of staying in the country for too long, but it is not of itself a violation of any law.

Would there be a way to correct this if that happens?

In the US, there's an address you can send your evidence to. In the EU, you can bring other evidence of your travels with you in case you're stopped at the border. I don't know about China.

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