Michael’s answer is very thorough, but I wanted to pop this up top:
If you want to go home now, contact your government about a repatriation flight. Governments are working hard to get citizens home.
Otherwise I would file that I-539 extension absolutely as soon as possible, and state the reason as fear of ability to get a flight home due to the virus, and a wish to keep your immigration record in good standing. The reason is the backlog of these requests.
I don’t know how immigration law will treat this. My dealings with regular law is that courts seem to be treating the crisis as a tolling (stopping of the clock) on matters that have a time limit. I would hope that in the future, immigration officials will likewise “stop the clock” on evaluating overstays.
I would recommend you file for an extension as soon as you are sure you are not likely to be able to leave on time. All things considered, this will probably be early May.
Here is the current situation:
With regard to your passport:
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
5 Mar, 2024
5 Mar, 2024