I know am precipitous...

[Dina 0]

I received and sent back the I 864 and the bill/payment for the DS 230 today. I know I am still at least a few weeks from approval but I was wondering:

1. When do you schedule the medical exam, and when/where do you get the list of authorized MDs who can do it?

2. When do you start making travel plans? It looks like our case may be completed in the summer, during peak travel time so advance planning seems pretty critical.

Any advice or personal experiences would be welcome.

[phirephly 0]

I received and sent back the I 864 and the bill/payment for the DS 230 today. I know I am still at least a few weeks from approval but I was wondering:

1. When do you schedule the medical exam, and when/where do you get the list of authorized MDs who can do it?

2. When do you start making travel plans? It looks like our case may be completed in the summer, during peak travel time so advance planning seems pretty critical.

Any advice or personal experiences would be welcome.

I'm a bit behind you in the process, so take my advice accordingly... but for the travel plans, I think the best recommendation based on what I've seen here would be to wait until you ahve the visa. You don't know (but we hope!) that you'll definitely be approved right there at your interview. Even if you are, what if the delivery of the visa is delayed outside of your travel window? Or what happens if the interview goes ok, but you get put on administrative review? Then you could be delayed for months. So any plans that you make before your interview could easily be ruined at the interview. So be very careful. It's a sour pill and a hit on the wallet, but it's better than buying tickets and not even being able to use them, right? Of course, we definitely hope that everything would go peachy.

Regarding the medical, I think that you get that information in packet 4. They tell you where to go, etc. Once you have that, I think you can go whenever you want.

Hope this helps! ttyl,

mich

[germangel 0]

Medical info should be in your interview letter. You won't get your visa right then and there but will have to wait between 5-14 days for your passport and visa to come in the mail depending on whether you have information missing or not.

In Frankfurt, you can do the medical on a walk-in basis, no appointment will be scheduled. FOr the other docs, you will have to schedule an appointment. I went to Frankfurt for my K3 and didn't need interview letter or anything from Consulate by the way, so you could go ahead of time there. Anywhere else in Germany, I don't know though

[Yodrak 7]

Dina,

You are more than a few weeks from approval, which is going to come not from the NVC but after you've been interviewed at the consulate.

'Case completed' at the NVC does not indicate any kind of approval, it means that everything is ready to go to the consulate where the visa application will be processed.

Yodrak

I received and sent back the I 864 and the bill/payment for the DS 230 today. I know I am still at least a few weeks from approval but I was wondering:

1. When do you schedule the medical exam, and when/where do you get the list of authorized MDs who can do it?

2. When do you start making travel plans? It looks like our case may be completed in the summer, during peak travel time so advance planning seems pretty critical.

Any advice or personal experiences would be welcome.

Edited May 17, 2006 by Yodrak

[Dina 0]

Dina,

You are more than a few weeks from approval, which is going to come not from the NVC but after you've been interviewed at the consulate.

'Case completed' at the NVC does not indicate any kind of approval, it means that everything is ready to go to the consulate where the visa application will be processed.

Yodrak

Oops, that's what I get for posting late at night. I did mean "case complete" and not approval, sorry. Thanks for pointing that out Yodrak.

Thanks to all for the advice and best wishes on your own journeys.

[Fischkoepfin 1]

Dina,

there are a few things you (or your husband) need for the interview besides the medical which, as germangel pointed out, you can do on a walk-in basis in Frankfurt. The consulate will inform the doctor's office that you might come by, and, unless you live close to one of the other places mentioned in the embassy-section, I would do the medical the same day. It takes 2-3 days for them to forward the results to the consulate but given the turn-over time of 5-14 days to process your visa, the delay doesn't matter.

You will also need a police report (Polizeiliches Fuehrungszeugnis) and it take a few weeks to get that. I would say to go ahead and request it at the town hall or the Ordnungsamt as soon as your case is complete. You can hand it in later, but that will delay the visa if not there in time.

As to booking flights, I've had fairly good experiences with booking flights two weeks ahead of time as prices seem to drop again at that point (even in the summer). So, if you book a flight after going to the interview you should be fine and you will know that you're not spending money on a flight you can't be on.

Btw, given your timeline in combination with germangel's, I think you can assume to interview at some point in August, which would mean that your flight could be in off-season again.

Best of luck.

[Dina 0]

Dina,

there are a few things you (or your husband) need for the interview besides the medical which, as germangel pointed out, you can do on a walk-in basis in Frankfurt. The consulate will inform the doctor's office that you might come by, and, unless you live close to one of the other places mentioned in the embassy-section, I would do the medical the same day. It takes 2-3 days for them to forward the results to the consulate but given the turn-over time of 5-14 days to process your visa, the delay doesn't matter.

You will also need a police report (Polizeiliches Fuehrungszeugnis) and it take a few weeks to get that. I would say to go ahead and request it at the town hall or the Ordnungsamt as soon as your case is complete. You can hand it in later, but that will delay the visa if not there in time.

As to booking flights, I've had fairly good experiences with booking flights two weeks ahead of time as prices seem to drop again at that point (even in the summer). So, if you book a flight after going to the interview you should be fine and you will know that you're not spending money on a flight you can't be on.

Btw, given your timeline in combination with germangel's, I think you can assume to interview at some point in August, which would mean that your flight could be in off-season again.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the great advice. I spoke to my husband about the police report, he said he had to get one before from his city (Pforzheim) for his job and he was able to get it right away. Is that the same type of police report? (His last job was as a security guard.)

[Fischkoepfin 1]

Dina,

there are a few things you (or your husband) need for the interview besides the medical which, as germangel pointed out, you can do on a walk-in basis in Frankfurt. The consulate will inform the doctor's office that you might come by, and, unless you live close to one of the other places mentioned in the embassy-section, I would do the medical the same day. It takes 2-3 days for them to forward the results to the consulate but given the turn-over time of 5-14 days to process your visa, the delay doesn't matter.

You will also need a police report (Polizeiliches Fuehrungszeugnis) and it take a few weeks to get that. I would say to go ahead and request it at the town hall or the Ordnungsamt as soon as your case is complete. You can hand it in later, but that will delay the visa if not there in time.

As to booking flights, I've had fairly good experiences with booking flights two weeks ahead of time as prices seem to drop again at that point (even in the summer). So, if you book a flight after going to the interview you should be fine and you will know that you're not spending money on a flight you can't be on.

Btw, given your timeline in combination with germangel's, I think you can assume to interview at some point in August, which would mean that your flight could be in off-season again.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the great advice. I spoke to my husband about the police report, he said he had to get one before from his city (Pforzheim) for his job and he was able to get it right away. Is that the same type of police report? (His last job was as a security guard.)

Should be the same, but they have centralized the issuance. That's why you have to wait now...

[Dina 0]

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Should be the same, but they have centralized the issuance. That's why you have to wait now...

Oooh... do you know when they did that? He got his last certificate 2 years ago. I will make sure he knows about that. Thanks!!!