Medical Examine/ Consulate Appointment in Vancouver

[drchouinard 0]

Hi,

My fiance and I are just finishing up the paperwork for the consulate in Vancouver. I have a few questions to anyone who can answer.

*How can you get a medical appointment BEFORE you know the date of the consulate appointment? And any advice relating to this

*How long will be have to wait for an appointment? As in, when is the soonest we could get one? Do you think its possible to have an appointment before April 17th?

*Do they really take into account the proposed wedding date? We are supposed to be getting married May 22, 2010 (a date we picked months ago.) Of course, if the visa isn't appoved by then, we will go ahead and have a ceremony on that date still, and do it legally asap...

*How long do the police certificates take from RCMP? He is in the US right now, but would it be faster to go to Canada to obtain one vs mailing in prints? Can you receive the certificate in just a day?

Any answers or other advice is great!

Thanks,

DoniRae

[Leafgal 3]

I know I was able to get my medical done without my interview date, but I think you have to call the dr to find out if they will give you an appointment first or not as some will not.

Sorry can't help with the RCMP information as I was in Canada and went down to get them in person which took me maybe 10 minutes.

As far as I know they don't take into account any wedding plans you have made, so good luck I hope you have the visa and can go ahead on your date, and if not you will enjoy your ceremony anyways.

Good luck.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

While this topic is properly posted in the US Embassy and Consulate forum, I am moving it to the Canada Regional Forum and merging it with the existing thread here to avoid having duplicate posts in different forums as the OP is more likely to receive timely answers to her questions here.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Kathryn41

[supremecomplex 8]

How can you get a medical appointment BEFORE you know the date of the consulate appointment? And any advice relating to this?

-- From personal experience, I actually sent both Woking & the Consulate a sort of 'heads-up' e-mail to let them know what dates I was looking at. (Both the medical office along with the Consulate). Since I wanted to have my medical on the Wednesday and then my actual interview on Thursday (the next day), and it went along just fine. Granted, I had given myself about four weeks until the actual day, and they were quite accommodating. (Here are my reviews for both my medical along with my interview.)

*How long will be have to wait for an appointment? As in, when is the soonest we could get one? Do you think its possible to have an appointment before April 17th?

-- If you put ASAP, they may schedule one within a few weeks from now. You never know. It is very possible that they could let you have an appointment on the day that you want -- again, just shoot them over an e-mail. It doesn't hurt. You can even try to schedule your medical/interview to coincide with one another.

*Do they really take into account the proposed wedding date? We are supposed to be getting married May 22, 2010 (a date we picked months ago.) Of course, if the visa isn't appoved by then, we will go ahead and have a ceremony on that date still, and do it legally asap...

-- I'm not too sure if they take account the proposed date, but for them, it's good to know that you have a date to get married - it's definitely more evidence that you two are in fact a couple. Just let them know that at your interview!

*How long do the police certificates take from RCMP? He is in the US right now, but would it be faster to go to Canada to obtain one vs mailing in prints? Can you receive the certificate in just a day?

-- I'm not too sure about this one. Sorry!

Hope that this helps!

Edited March 13, 2010 by supremecomplex

[HeatDeath 430]

Hi,

My fiance and I are just finishing up the paperwork for the consulate in Vancouver. I have a few questions to anyone who can answer.

*How can you get a medical appointment BEFORE you know the date of the consulate appointment? And any advice relating to this

*How long will be have to wait for an appointment? As in, when is the soonest we could get one? Do you think its possible to have an appointment before April 17th?

*Do they really take into account the proposed wedding date? We are supposed to be getting married May 22, 2010 (a date we picked months ago.) Of course, if the visa isn't appoved by then, we will go ahead and have a ceremony on that date still, and do it legally asap...

*How long do the police certificates take from RCMP? He is in the US right now, but would it be faster to go to Canada to obtain one vs mailing in prints? Can you receive the certificate in just a day?

Any answers or other advice is great!

Thanks,

DoniRae

I had emailed Vancouver about this prior to faxing in my Packet 3 checklist, so on my checklist, I wrote that "Per our email, medical appointment will be arranged once interview date is assigned." The medical clinic only does immigration medicals once a week, Wednesdays at 6:30 am. so request a Thursday interview if you can get it, or Wednesday afternoon if necessary, and then the medical clinic will slot you into the nearest Wednesday morning before.

I ended up doing my medical on Wednesday morning, going to my interview that afternoon at 1:30, then hiking back to the clinic to pick up the results, then delivering them back to the consulate (which closes at 4). Busy Wednesday! I was approved, and told I could pick up my passport+visa after 2:15 the next day. So you can do the whole thing in two days. I would rather have had a Thursday interview, and done the whole thing over three days, but the consulate was booked up on the Thursday and anyways I didn't want to miss more work than necessary.

Useful piece of advice, BTW: There is a hotel called the Burrard Inn literally next door to the medical clinic. Budget rooms: very very basic, but INCREDIBLY convenient for the early morning medical exam appointment lineup. (You really want to be there at about ten to six. That way you can get through quickly and be out of there by 9:30ish.)

When I got my Packet 4, the interview was scheduled for about 6 weeks later (this was April-May 2009). Because the school I taught at was already wondering if I was returning in September, and I couldn't tell them either way without having the visa in hand, I asked Vancouver if they could move me up from the end of May to somewhat earlier in May, and they gave me April 29th, only 2 weeks from then! I spent an extremely busy hour trying to figure out if I could even get decently priced flights and hotel rooms on that short of notice!

As noted above, Vancouver was really nice, easy to deal with, and accommodating for me. [You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw how prompt an interview they were willing to give me!] I'm sure they'll try their best, given a proposed wedding date, to get you an interview a reasonable amount of time in advance, if at all possible. It wasn't really relevant for us. This was in mid April and our planned wedding date wasn't until September.

My understanding with RCMP police certificates is that if you don't have a record, they can be done in minutes to days, depending on the office. I went to the local detachment and showed them my Packet 3 checklist. They knew exactly what i needed and the whole thing took less than 30 minutes. Some people I've read here get told to come back in a few days, but it's still pretty short. OTOH, if you have a record and they need to check your prints, it can take several weeks to 1-2 months. I have no idea if you can order one without being physically present in the station/detachment, or how that might affect processing times.

[trailmix 77]

*How long do the police certificates take from RCMP? He is in the US right now, but would it be faster to go to Canada to obtain one vs mailing in prints? Can you receive the certificate in just a day?

Any answers or other advice is great!

Thanks,

DoniRae

If he is not in Canada he will have to do the fingerprint version, it takes around 3 months to get them - it would very much be a better idea for him to just get the name check, in Canada, when he is up here. As someone else mentioned, how long that takes depends on where he goes. My Husband's took about 10 days to arrive, from the Calgary police service, as they mail them out.

[drchouinard 0]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to thank you all for your advice.

Leafgal- Thanks for your comments. In this case, you are required to request the medical appointment before your interview date. Also, I am hoping my fiance’s police certificate is as quick as yours!

Supremecomplex- I sent the consulate an email after I saw your post. Also, I received an email from the medical center saying that if I needed to change the appointment date later I can. I am waiting to hear back from the consulate.

Heatdeath- I really appreciate all the advice! I will look into the Burrard Inn, and I will be sure to get there early.

Trailmix- Wow! I didn’t realize the mail way takes so long. I am glad I decided to check with the VJ community first. Thanks so much for the vital information.

DoniRae