Medical Exam in HCM, Vietnam takes 2 months???

[Quoc 0]

Hi,

I've been using this site as reference for submitting the K-1 Visa and it has been extremely useful. The good news is that I my finance passed the interview on 5/10/2010 at Ho chi minh city, Vietnam. However, it is a conditional pass because we could not get the medical exam results in time. She got her exam at Cho Ray. They are saying that it takes up to 10 weeks or over 2 months to get the medical exam result. I just want to check with the group if this is normal and how long does it take for you guys?

I'm flying back this July to get married. It would be so awesome if she can get the visa by then so she can travel back with me. I've also been thinking to do another exam with the American run hospital, IOC. Not sure whether I should spend the money and do it..

Please advise.

Thank you,

Quoc

[ScottThuy 140]

Have her go to get her vaccinations today if she has not had them.. then go to Cho Ray the next morning as early as possible and take a few bucks for coffee money to help get in... She should be able to get the results the next day... the only time it takes a long time for results is when they are doing TB tests... Cho Ray is trying to push people off a long time lately..

Moving to VN regional forum...

Edited June 6, 2010 by ScottThuy

[Quoc 0]

Okay.. I'll ask her about vaccinations. It is the TB tests. She went back and forth for 3 days or so. Two months is just ridiculously long!

Have her go to get her vaccinations today if she has not had them.. then go to Cho Ray the next morning as early as possible and take a few bucks for coffee money to help get in... She should be able to get the results the next day... the only time it takes a long time for results is when they are doing TB tests... Cho Ray is trying to push people off a long time lately..

Moving to VN regional forum...

[ScottThuy 140]

You cant rush the TB tests if she has already done the physical and they said wait for the results then wait for the results.nothing can be done to speed them up...... Pray she does not have it... another VN couple is looking at 1.5 years before the treatment is done and she can get the visa...

The results must come from Cho Ray or the other approved medical center.. the consulate wont accept anything else... Another couple went through the same thing recently and she was cleared and got the visa straight away...

Edited June 6, 2010 by ScottThuy

[Quoc 0]

IOC is the other approved medical center. Anyways, I guess I'll just wait. Is the TB culture test an indication that the skin test showed TB, and therefore they need more conclusive results. Or is it mandatory for everyone.

Would you know how long the other couple took to clear?

Thanks,

Quoc

You cant rush the TB tests if she has already done the physical and they said wait for the results then wait for the results.nothing can be done to speed them up...... Pray she does not have it... another VN couple is looking at 1.5 years before the treatment is done and she can get the visa...

The results must come from Cho Ray or the other approved medical center.. the consulate wont accept anything else... Another couple went through the same thing recently and she was cleared and got the visa straight away...

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

Okay.. I'll ask her about vaccinations. It is the TB tests. She went back and forth for 3 days or so. Two months is just ridiculously long!

IF for TB tests? sometimes taking more than 4-5 months. My friend-wife took her 4-5 months to get her visa. I am sorry!!!

Maybe some coffee-money will help out, and good luck.

[ScottThuy 140]

IOC is the other approved medical center. Anyways, I guess I'll just wait. Is the TB culture test an indication that the skin test showed TB, and therefore they need more conclusive results. Or is it mandatory for everyone.

Would you know how long the other couple took to clear?

Thanks,

Quoc

They usually dont do a skin test.. they look at the xray and then they do what they are doing to your wife the sputum test... the fact that they saw something in the xray is why you are waiting... If the doc suspects something.. it becomes manditory to do the test...

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

IOC is the other approved medical center. Anyways, I guess I'll just wait. Is the TB culture test an indication that the skin test showed TB, and therefore they need more conclusive results. Or is it mandatory for everyone.

Would you know how long the other couple took to clear?

Thanks,

Quoc

It's IOM - International Organization for Migration. Since you're already on a medical hold at Cho Ray, you can't sidestep them and try to get a medical at IOM.

They don't do TB skin tests in Vietnam. A large percentage of the population have been exposed to the bacteria that causes TB, and will give a positive test. They skip the skin test, and go straight for the secondary test, which is a chest x-ray. Your fiance apparently had indications in her chest x-ray of a possible latent or active TB infection. The third stage test is a sputum culture. The bacteria grows very slowly, so the culture takes a couple of months.

The good news is that TB can usually be effectively treated with certain antibiotics, but the course of treatment is long. They usually start the antibiotic regimen while waiting for the results of the sputum test, since this gives a couple of months head start on the treatment if the sputum test is positive. If the sputum culture is positive then she'll have to complete the treatment, which could be anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. When she has a sputum culture test that's negative then the TB had been eliminated, and she'll be cleared.

Your best hope now is that the sputum culture turns out negative, and the marks on her x-ray are scars from a prior infection of some sort. Otherwise, you're in for a fairly long wait.

[Quoc 0]

Thank you everyone for the quick response. I'm 100% clear now.

Good luck with everyone's journeys, and best wishes!

[ScottThuy 140]

Here is an example of another member going through exact same thing

[BinhJerome 14]

Hi,

I've been using this site as reference for submitting the K-1 Visa and it has been extremely useful. The good news is that I my finance passed the interview on 5/10/2010 at Ho chi minh city, Vietnam. However, it is a conditional pass because we could not get the medical exam results in time. She got her exam at Cho Ray. They are saying that it takes up to 10 weeks or over 2 months to get the medical exam result. I just want to check with the group if this is normal and how long does it take for you guys?

I'm flying back this July to get married. It would be so awesome if she can get the visa by then so she can travel back with me. I've also been thinking to do another exam with the American run hospital, IOC. Not sure whether I should spend the money and do it..

Please advise.

Thank you,

Quoc

I do not know if I understand you correctly with the high lighted section, if you have a K1 that has been approved, you CANNOT get married in Vietnam as it will make your recently approved petition void. You have to marry in the United States on a K1 visa. For the other part, have your fiancee keep calling or going to the hospital, see how far a few dong can go in speeding up the process, everything seems to run faster when a few dong get spread around. Congrats on the conditional approval, hopefully she can get the results back asap Jerome

[Bernie C 24]

I do not know if I understand you correctly with the high lighted section, if you have a K1 that has been approved, you CANNOT get married in Vietnam as it will make your recently approved petition void. You have to marry in the United States on a K1 visa. For the other part, have your fiancee keep calling or going to the hospital, see how far a few dong can go in speeding up the process, everything seems to run faster when a few dong get spread around. Congrats on the conditional approval, hopefully she can get the results back asap Jerome

I was going to comment on that also as I hadn't seen it pointed out in the other posts.

DO NOT GET MARRIED IN JULY unless you plan on starting over with the CR-1 process. If you marry on the K-1 it will be null and void.

[Kiruthiga 0]

On 6/7/2010 at 3:52 AM, JimVaPhuong said:

It's IOM - International Organization for Migration. Since you're already on a medical hold at Cho Ray, you can't sidestep them and try to get a medical at IOM.

They don't do TB skin tests in Vietnam. A large percentage of the population have been exposed to the bacteria that causes TB, and will give a positive test. They skip the skin test, and go straight for the secondary test, which is a chest x-ray. Your fiance apparently had indications in her chest x-ray of a possible latent or active TB infection. The third stage test is a sputum culture. The bacteria grows very slowly, so the culture takes a couple of months.

The good news is that TB can usually be effectively treated with certain antibiotics, but the course of treatment is long. They usually start the antibiotic regimen while waiting for the results of the sputum test, since this gives a couple of months head start on the treatment if the sputum test is positive. If the sputum culture is positive then she'll have to complete the treatment, which could be anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. When she has a sputum culture test that's negative then the TB had been eliminated, and she'll be cleared.

Your best hope now is that the sputum culture turns out negative, and the marks on her x-ray are scars from a prior infection of some sort. Otherwise, you're in for a fairly long wait.

i am from india . I want to work in vietnam but i have scar in lungs .its seen in chest xray , but the tb result is negative. It has completely cured. Could i know where i will be qualified in medical test in vietnam workpermit