Interview scheduling at the US Embassy in London (CR-1 visa)

[jennie ann 15]

I posted this question in the regional forum, but I thought I'd try here as well.

Our case was completed at NVC yesterday (April 11th), and I'm confused about the process of getting an interview in London. From what I understand, for most embassies/consulates, you don't get your medical until your interview has been scheduled. But I have heard that for London, you MUST have your medical done before the interview is even scheduled (i.e. the embassy will not schedule an interview until they've received your medical results). It seems that this may only be the case for K visas, and that if NVC processed the immigrant visa application, they will schedule the interview for you irrespective of whether or not you've done the medical (although I know that you CAN schedule your medical as soon as you have an NVC case number). Can anyone confirm?

This is what it says on the embassy website regarding interviews:

"Immediate Relative Category: In general, applicants registered in the immediate relative category will be contacted within 4 - 6 weeks of the NVC completing action on their application. Those whose application is being processed by the Embassy, will not receive an appointment date until the Immigrant Visa Unit has not only completed action on the application, but has also received the results of the medical examination.

K visa Category: The appointment for the visa interview will not be scheduled until the Immigrant Visa Unit has completed action on the application and has also received the results of the medical examination."

But then on another section regarding the medical examination, it says this (no distinction between different types of visas):

"The medical examination must take place before the visa interview. The Embassy will not schedule the interview until they have received the results of the medical examination."

So there appears to be some conflicting information. I'll try asking another operator at NVC, but if anyone else knows for sure, that would be very helpful! Thanks!

[JoannaV 174]

All those things say the same thing: no interview date until they've received your medical results.

The first statement was just also saying that you may not even hear from the Embassy until several weeks after NVC has finished with your case. (Anyone without the internet actually has NO idea about the medical until the Embassy send them information, so the process for them takes longer as they don't know to book the medical or anything.)

As soon as you have your police certificate and London case number you should book your medical. I believe you can find your case number by calling DOS if you don't know it already. Someone else is sure to comment about this :-)

[jennie ann 15]

All those things say the same thing: no interview date until they've received your medical results.

The first statement was just also saying that you may not even hear from the Embassy until several weeks after NVC has finished with your case. (Anyone without the internet actually has NO idea about the medical until the Embassy send them information, so the process for them takes longer as they don't know to book the medical or anything.)

As soon as you have your police certificate and London case number you should book your medical. I believe you can find your case number by calling DOS if you don't know it already. Someone else is sure to comment about this :-)

Thanks, Joanna! Here's what I'm thinking though:

The embassy website makes a clear distinction between two application processes (in a box called "APPLYING FOR THE VISA" along the right-hand side of this page):

"The immigrant visa application will be processed either by the National Visa Center in New Hampshire or the Immigrant Visa Unit at the Embassy depending on which USICS office approved petition.

Application processed by the Immigrant Visa Unit at the Embassy (links to different part of embassy website)

Application processed by the National Visa Center in New Hampshire (links to State Dept. website)"

So that's why when it says...:

"Those whose application is being processed by the Embassy, will not receive an appointment date until the Immigrant Visa Unit has not only completed action on the application, but has also received the results of the medical examination."

...I take that to mean "those whose application is being processed by the Embassy rather than by the NVC"; if, on the other hand, your application is being processed by the NVC, the embassy does not need the medical results before scheduling an interview. And when you follow the links to instructions for each process, the "Immigrant Visa Unit" instructions very clearly state that you must have your medical first, while the NVC instructions state that you will receive an interview letter which will also instruct you to get a medical (although there is nothing embassy-specific, so I realize it might just not include all of the information). The medical instructions letter (which I downloaded from the State Dept website here) also says "You must quote your case number when making your call and confirm the date of your visa appointment, if one has already been scheduled for you," which suggests the possibility that the interview could be scheduled before the medical.

So after all of this sleuthing, I can't find anything that says definitively that the embassy will not schedule an interview for CR-1 visas processed at the NVC prior to receiving the medical results. On the other hand, you may be absolutely right that maybe that's all in the letter that gets sent to you 4-6 weeks after your case is complete if you haven't done the medical yet and nothing has happened with your case.

By the way, we do already have a medical scheduled, but not until May 11th (my husband is flying back to London from here on May 3rd and then going back to his hometown GP to get his vaccinations done before the medical). I was just hoping that this additional time spent away wouldn't have to be so long, but it's going to be much longer if they won't even assign the interview date until after the medical (I was hoping we could get an interview date in a couple of weeks for the end of May).

Don't know if anyone's taken the time to read all of this, but again, if anyone else can tell me for sure that the medical must be done, please let me know! Thanks so much!

[jennie ann 15]

OK, so you definitely DON'T need the medical done before getting an interview for CR-1 visas processed through the NVC (maybe it's just for K-visas and DCF). I know because I just got my interview date for May 31st!

[JoannaV 174]

Did you tell them you had the medical appointment booked, or not?

[jennie ann 15]

Did you tell them you had the medical appointment booked, or not?

Nope, I didn't tell them. NVC had told me I didn't need to book the medical until I got the interview letter, and I hadn't figured out a way to contact the embassy. I know someone else who hadn't done the medical yet either, and they just got their interview (for the same date and time) as well.

[JoannaV 174]

Interesting. Wonder what happens if you don't have the medical until after the interview? Back in the day they would just approve the visa pending the medical results, I wonder if they still do this? That would mean those using SCF in Northern Ireland could fly over once and have the medical and interview together, whereas those using DCF would have to fly over twice...this whole thing is weirder every day *faints* Back when I did CR-1 through the NVC they were just changing over to requiring the medical beforehand and they did tell me I needed it...but that was the medical people telling me when I was at the medical, so maybe they didn't know everything.

[jennie ann 15]

Well, they've recently added a line to the top of the medical instructions document that says (in bold red text, no less):

"To All Applicants: Failure to complete the medical examination prior to the visa interview can lead to possible refusal. Please follow the instructions below to avoid any delays."

The FAQs on the medical letter itself still say this:

"What if I cannot secure a medical appointment before the visa interview takes place? Don’t worry. You should still keep the visa appointment and, once the medical has been completed, the results will be delivered directly to the Embassy. When they have been received, the Embassy will contact you concerning the next steps that you are required to take.

...but I'm sure that would be very ill-advised! I see on most other documents that the medical needs to be completed (and the embassy needs the results) by the time of the interview.