Medical Exams US vs Canada

[NikLR 13,232]

I have no idea what to do about the vaccinations since I cannot get my old records (they're gone, 30 years later they just don't keep them that long) and unless I go back to my doctor and say, I need a list of all the antibodies I have on paper for me to take with me. I'm going to phone the lab place in town and see if they do it and how much it is as the health care clinic in town told me to call them. Ugh.... Other than that I haven't a clue honestly.

[The Mean Lady 604]

I have no idea what to do about the vaccinations since I cannot get my old records (they're gone, 30 years later they just don't keep them that long) and unless I go back to my doctor and say, I need a list of all the antibodies I have on paper for me to take with me. I'm going to phone the lab place in town and see if they do it and how much it is as the health care clinic in town told me to call them. Ugh.... Other than that I haven't a clue honestly.

I saw some people post in a thread before that they went to a walk-in and got the tests done.

I was afraid my husband would have to do that (since his doctor is retired and his new doctor is 30mins away) but then my MiL showed up with his BC and his vaccinations happened to be in the same envelope! SHWING!

[CarolinaGirl 2]

We paid $350 in May. We also had to take a day off work and pay for a ferry($160 round trip) and a hotel since we live on Vancouver Island and had to be on the mainland for a 6am Wednesday morning appointment. Brutal! Immigration is a costly business, between my Canadian PR & Citizenship and my husbands green card we've easily spent $5000. Our kids will reap the benefits being able to live on either side of the border.

[The Mean Lady 604]

The only money I have to spend is what's coming in my tax refund in March. I figure that's about a grand. The first 420 was covered for me so I'm going to have to be pinching pennies through the rest of the process. I don't want to think about the amount of money I've spent in gas driving back and forth though

[KTandTommy 31]

If you include all the misc immigration related expenses (like FedEx, passport photos, hotel room for the interview), I've calculated that we've spent about $1800 so far on our K1. Good thing I really love this boy

[The Mean Lady 604]

I hate thinking about these stupid passport photos and how they just cost me 25 bucks.

When I handed over the 12.50 for my set, my first thought was 'there goes 3 days of dinner meat'

The first half of the month is always rough for us, and of course now with christmas coming.

ARRRG MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!

On a positive note, I figured out a way to make some cool stocking stuffers for all of my family (we're each required to bring 1 for each person) for under 2 bucks each SCORE!

But anyways, come christmas time when we go to the states, i'm going to stock up on passport pictures for my husband since they are cheaper there. Does the applicant (myself) need to provide passport pictures any more? Or just for the initial I-130 paperwork?

[pocheros 101]

Not sure if additional photos from the USC are required in the CR1/IR1 route after the petition but be careful that the photos are taken within the correct time frame. There are a few steps in the immigration process where the photos must be within 30 days, 6 months, etc. (though I think the 30 day one is just with the initial petition.) Anyways you don't want them to be too old. You cna also try taking them yourself using e passport photo: http://www.epassportphoto.com/

Edited November 11, 2012 by pocheros

[The Mean Lady 604]

Not sure if additional photos from the USC are required in the CR1/IR1 route after the petition but be careful that the photos are taken within the correct time frame. There are a few steps in the immigration process where the photos must be within 30 days, 6 months, etc. (though I think the 30 day one is just with the initial petition.) Anyways you don't want them to be too old. You cna also try taking them yourself using e passport photo: http://www.epassportphoto.com/

They don't date passport photos and my husband is 32 years old.

He isn't going to change w/in the following 6 months or even 7 if something happens to take too long.

However, if his nose happens to fall off after we take the pictures, I'll retake them.

[NikLR 13,232]

Oh they date them in Canada! :/ I found the cheapest place to be at London Drugs, $12.50 for the two... And they do the US sizes.

[The Mean Lady 604]

Oh they date them in Canada! :/ I found the cheapest place to be at London Drugs, $12.50 for the two... And they do the US sizes.

You can tell her not to date them, at least that's what I did at shopper's

She had this big goofy stamp and I was like WOAH WOAH WOAH this isn't for a passport you can just leave that off.

[KTandTommy 31]

I want to post a retraction & correction to what I said earlier.

Dr. Mascarenhas is NOT $250 as previously stated, it is $300. The receptionist told me $250 on the phone, but I brought an extra $50 with me just in case, cause I knew Seidan was $300. When the doc collected my fee, I told him about that, and he said the reason is he does medicals for USA, Canada and Australia, and they're all different amounts, because of the different tests required for each country, so she probably quoted me the wrong one.

Not sure what he would've done if I didn't have the extra $50, but glad I read it here and decided to play it safe!

[The Mean Lady 604]

I want to post a retraction & correction to what I said earlier.

Dr. Mascarenhas is NOT $250 as previously stated, it is $300. The receptionist told me $250 on the phone, but I brought an extra $50 with me just in case, cause I knew Seidan was $300. When the doc collected my fee, I told him about that, and he said the reason is he does medicals for USA, Canada and Australia, and they're all different amounts, because of the different tests required for each country, so she probably quoted me the wrong one.

Not sure what he would've done if I didn't have the extra $50, but glad I read it here and decided to play it safe!

Thank you!!