Medical & Interview.....

Here starts the longest post ever......

I wrote the following for the visa website I use, for information for people in future, so i'm re-publishing it here. Its a bit impersonal and jargon heavy, but you will probably get the gist.....

Monday 24^th July, 2006 – Interview (10am) & Medical (3.30pm)

My wife and I travelled over to London from Northern Ireland, where we currently live, for the interview and medical on the same day. We stayed in the Millenium Gloucester Hotel, right next to Gloucester Road tube stop.

We took the tube to Bond Street Station and made the dhort walk to the Embassy, arriving at about 9:30am or so, 30 minutes before our scheduled time of 10am. When we got there, there were 2 lines, the one on the left was for 9am interviews, which they were just finishing admittance, and slowly started to filter in 9:30 interviews into it. After waiting for some time, in the hot sun, and being glad of my water bottle, we finally got past the first guards, the funny fat one, and the stern looking one, to get to the security scan. I assumed there were two lines, one for non-immigrant, and one for immigrant applications, but I was wrong.

Anyway, once we had gone through the security hut, we proceeded around the front of the embassy, to the far side, adjacent to Brook St/Grosvenor Square North, and entered the embassy there. We went up to the front desk, and they asked for our appointment letter, and asked us if our phones and electrical equipment were turned off, we said yes, and proceeded to the top of the stairs, through the double doors and into the main waiting room. It is quite large, probably about 200-300 seats, split into two sections, facing the centre, where a quite intense monitoring system is located. (3 plasma screens giving details of who is at what windows, and showing the waiting list). Upon entering the room, we turned to our left, and were given a number (17), and told to take a seat. The waiting room is very warm, and has no air-con, but has fans. Just beside the lady who hands out the numbers is a large desk for the couriers, and had a number of people waiting to hand in their forms. Right at the other end of the hall, which I would guess is about 100x40 feet, is the snack bar. It was stocked with lots of stuff; drinks, fruit, sandwiches etc. What you would find in a normal corner shop I guess. To the side there are 11 windows, and a corridor with windows 12-25 and toilets down there.

We took a seat, and took in the room, and started doing a crossword. It appeared to us that the immigrant section was only covered by a number of windows, 1, 13 and 14 handled the first document and scanning part, and then 15 and 16 handled the interview. My memory is a little hazy on the numbers, maybe someone could correct.

After about 45 minutes or so, our number was called, and we proceeded to window number one. The officer there asked for my passport and appointment letter, and then disappeared and returned about 2-3mins later with our file. He looked through it carefully, and whilst he was doing so, I noticed our I-130, with the approval stamp on it. The date read 15^th November 2005. I was astonished. We didn’t receive our NOA2 until December 23^rd 2005!!!! 6 weeks it took for them to issue a notice!!!!

The officer then asked for my documents in order and retained everything at this point, originals and copies, and took my finger prints, all four fingers of the left hand, followed by all four of the right hand, and then both thumbs together. Once this was completed, we returned to our seats. 5 mins later, we were called to window 16, where we were greeted by another officer, a younger, friendlier version! He asked me my name, and date of birth, and then asked me to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth and that the evidence was correct as presented.

We then proceeded to complete the sworn statement of part 2 of the DS-230 and he then moved to the I-864. It is here where we ran into problems. I don’t want to go into details on an internet forum, but it appears we require an I-864A, contract between sponsor and household member to complete the filing.

We were then given a blue form, along with my passport, and instructions on how to return the passport and the I-864A. We are currently getting this (it needs to be an original, but not notorised) and will send it to the embassy as soon as we get it. It goes back through SMS couriers, the same couriers as the embassy use to send out the visas. The officer was really nice, and tried to get any way around our problem, and talked it through with us a number of times. He assured us a number of times that it was a mere formality. Scant consolation really, for almost 15 months of waiting time.

We then exited the embassy, and had lunch at a little café just off Oxford St, before heading to the Alliance Imaging Centre for the medical. The best way to find both of these is to get a little map from the nearest tube station. The Maps are usually called “Continuing your journey from (station name)” and are very useful. They are usually near the exits, on a big stand with a large version of the map.

We arrived a little early for our medical, about 30-45 mins, since we were a little bored, and had nothing better to do, so we decided to chance it, and see if they would take us early. Upon entering, we went up to the 2^nd Floor, and met the receptionist. She gave me a questionnaire to fill in, took my questionnaire which came in packet 3, a photo and my vaccination record, and asked me to take a seat and fill in what I could of their question sheet.

After I had filled in the sheet, I returned it to the receptionist, and took my seat again. In the waiting room were myself, another couple, aged about mid 30s, and a single lady. A few minutes later, the radiologist arrived, and took us in to have our chest x-rays individually. Basically, you go in, take your shirt off (if you are a guy) and stand with your hands on your hips and chest up against the machine. I had a short chat with the radiographer, while he checked my x-ray, and then said, “that’s good, you can go now”. So I left the room, and went back to the waiting area.

After waiting for about 15 mins, I was called into the doctor’s study. He was a tall, pleasant chap, and we had a nice chat about the standard things, ie where are you going to live etc.

He then proceeded to ask me all manner of questions about my medical history, of which thankfully, I don’t have much of. He then asked me to go over to the bed, and strip to my underwear, and then weighed me and took my height. He then asked me to lie on my back on the bed, where he proceeded to take my pulse and blood pressure. After that, we listened to my chest both front and back, and then he asked me to slip my underwear down, just so he could have a look. Then he drew blood for a sample. And that was it. I got dressed, and we had a chat about what would happen next and then I went to the reception and paid the fee of £160. The receptionist gave me a copy of my immunization record, as it may be required if I have to go through AOS or something. I would assume this part is just for K-3’ers etc.

The whole medical for me took about 45 mins, with about 30 of those made up of waiting. Pretty painless, and much more fun than the interview!