Okay to book medical appointment after Packet 3 forms are sent?

[loughrey101 13]

Hi, I'm dealing with the Dublin embassy and I've just sent off my Application of Readiness today with my checklist as requested but I did not tick off the medical appointment as I was told by the relevant medical clinic to wait until after I get my appointment letter to book with them. I'm wondering should I have ticked it off or would they still give me an appointment date prior to making arrangements for my medical? It probably varies between embassies but in general is it a requirement to have it arranged prior to sending the Application of Readiness? The medical clinic said I could get a booking at short notice regardless of how soon my appointment would be. Thank you!

[St&Sv 33]

I don't know about Ireland directly but I have read that once you have your number from the NVC (the MNL case # I believe) that you can schedule your appointment. I was looking into this not long ago when I was reading people would had to have a TB test done, and were surprised that it takes 2 months to get the results back. So of course I wanted to see how soon I could book the appointment just incase.

Others with actual experience with this will most likely chime in soon

Edited June 28, 2013 by St&Sv

[Laura. 90]

I don't know about Ireland directly but I have read that once you have your number from the NVC (the MNL case # I believe) that you can schedule your appointment.

MNL case number is Manila. I don't know what the number for Dublin will be, but it won't be MNL. DBL maybe? London is LND.

Edited June 28, 2013 by Laura Clare

[loughrey101 13]

Thanks very much guys for your replies so far.

The case number code for Dublin is DBL. I have that and I know I'll definitely be able to have all my results back within the next two weeks. I'll be getting my vaccinations next week with my local doctor. I have all the relevant vaccination records too. I don't think they require TB shots here because there is no mention of it in Packet 3. I had my booster in school about 13 years ago anyways. I read somewhere that if a vaccination requires a second dosage to complete the vaccination of if the results are delayed for a long period because of the nature of vaccination that it will not affect the approval of the visa, the most important thing is that you have been vaccinated and you'll receive the relevant follow-ups in the US. These are the only required vaccinations for Dublin (dependant on age): MMR, Polio, Diphtheria, Pertussis, HIB, Hep. A, Hep. B., Varicella, Pneumococcal, Influenza, Rota Virus, HPV Virus, and Zoster. I'm not concerned about the waiting time, I'm more concerned about whether it is an absolute requirement that the medical must be booked prior to the interview.

[Laura. 90]

If it's the same as London, they won't schedule an interview until they have the results of your medical.

[Aball 3]

I didn't do the K1 visa so I don't know the order of when you get things done.

But I can tell you once I rang to book my appointment it took a week and half to get a free appointment. I think the doctor only does US visa medicals on a Tuesday. After I did the medical I got the results 1 week later, including the TB results.

Oh and I didn't even have my interview date at that stage and so had no letter. That didn't cause any problems.

The case number for Dublin will start with DBL.

Hope this is some help.

[loughrey101 13]

I didn't do the K1 visa so I don't know the order of when you get things done.

But I can tell you once I rang to book my appointment it took a week and half to get a free appointment. I think the doctor only does US visa medicals on a Tuesday. After I did the medical I got the results 1 week later, including the TB results.

Oh and I didn't even have my interview date at that stage and so had no letter. That didn't cause any problems.

The case number for Dublin will start with DBL.

Hope this is some help.

Thanks very much Aball for your reply. Can I ask you if you sent the Application of Readiness before booking your medical? Blackrock told me to wait until I get an appointment date from the embassy to book a medical with them - So it seems very confusing. I see you mentioned that you rang for a visa appointment. That brings me to another thing I was wondering. Do we have to wait for an appointment to come in the post after sending the Statement of Readiness or call for an appointment after we sent the statement of readiness? I heard something about a number you call that costs a whopping 16 euros, is that how you did it? Thanks!

[loughrey101 13]

If it's the same as London, they won't schedule an interview until they have the results of your medical.

Thanks very much Laura but I'm guessing it's a little different with the Dublin Embassy because the medical results are not sent by the panal physician and you are required to collect them. The embassy doesn't want us to sent them any documents except DS-230 Part 1, Statement of Readiness, and the checklist. That's why I'm wondering if booking the medical prior to sending the statement of readiness is necessary because it seems that you have to take the medical results with you on the day of the interview.

[Aball 3]

Hi Loughrey,

Sorry my bad. My visa route is a little different to yours. You are applying for the fiancé visa whereas I am the spouse visa- I'm already married.

My case spent much longer at NVC than yours did/will. I sent all my paperwork there (I 184, police certificate etc) and when NVC are happy they say Case Complete and they scheduled appointment in embassy for me.

The K 1 visa is different as you know and I wouldn't know the exact details of the procedures involved with you visa- sorry.

When I said I rang and made an appt, I meant for medical in the Blackrock clinic. And they never asked me for my interview letter and didnt really care. Now maybe that's different for K1 visa- I don't know if they will just let you come in and do medical without embassy interview.

Also I see you have another post with a question.

I had to get a couple of booster shots on the day at my medical and they were fully included in the cost of the medical. I didn't have any official immunization records, the doctor just asked me what I knew about what shots I'd had as a kid and I went from there.

Hope this has been some help. Sorry about the earlier confusion. If you've anymore questions feel free to ask.

Good luck!

[Aball 3]

You need to get into K1 visa forum and find out in what order things happen for your visa!

[loughrey101 13]

Hi Loughrey,

Sorry my bad. My visa route is a little different to yours. You are applying for the fiancé visa whereas I am the spouse visa- I'm already married.

My case spent much longer at NVC than yours did/will. I sent all my paperwork there (I 184, police certificate etc) and when NVC are happy they say Case Complete and they scheduled appointment in embassy for me.

The K 1 visa is different as you know and I wouldn't know the exact details of the procedures involved with you visa- sorry.

When I said I rang and made an appt, I meant for medical in the Blackrock clinic. And they never asked me for my interview letter and didnt really care. Now maybe that's different for K1 visa- I don't know if they will just let you come in and do medical without embassy interview.

Also I see you have another post with a question.

I had to get a couple of booster shots on the day at my medical and they were fully included in the cost of the medical. I didn't have any official immunization records, the doctor just asked me what I knew about what shots I'd had as a kid and I went from there.

Hope this has been some help. Sorry about the earlier confusion. If you've anymore questions feel free to ask.

Good luck!

Thanks very much Aball for the very informative reply. I didn't think the marital visa procedure was a whole lot different from the fiance visa but obviously it is. I did check which order I do things and I seem to have everything right, but I didn't see if it is necessary to have you medical booked prior to sending your checklist with your Statement of Readiness. All embassies seem to have very different stipulations (London embassy for example don't require vaccinations until you apply for adjustment in the states whereas the Dublin embassy does).

The answer to my question on the medical is very helpful. I currently have my doctor reviewing my vaccination needs and I think it would be better so to get my records back from him and book a medical with Dr Gleeson because local doctors can charge up on 40 euros a shot and I need a few.

[Aball 3]

As far as I know Dr. Gleeson won't charge you for whatever shots he may have to give you. When I was booking my appointment I asked to make sure. So perhaps just make sure with them when you are calling to make your appointment.

It sounds like you are and will be very organised!

[Sharkano 13]

I had fundamentally the same inquiry (will be going through London). Since the Embassy will not schedule their interview until the medical is finished, it seems you can cut many weeks off this long process IF you can schedule the medical once you get the number from NVC (even if the Embassy does not have the NVC papers yet) so as to have it done even before the Packet is sent to you from the Embassy, thus allowing you to instantly return the form saying you have everything ready, and thus schedule the interview. However, not sure if the doctors let you do this, or if when your medical stuff then gets transmitted to the Embassy their computers go into burnout mode dealing with medical exam results for someone as to whom they do not have the NVC materials yet. Any comments from the experts here would be appreciated. Thanks!

[loughrey101 13]

As far as I know Dr. Gleeson won't charge you for whatever shots he may have to give you. When I was booking my appointment I asked to make sure. So perhaps just make sure with them when you are calling to make your appointment.

It sounds like you are and will be very organised!

Thanks very much Aball, that is really great to know. I should have just ticked the medical off on the checklist anyways yesterday because by the time I hear from them again I'll have the medical done. Blackrock messed it up for me because they told me to send Packet 3 before I book anything with them. I'm going to schedule an appointment Monday with them. I hope that me not ticking the medical box will not stall the process. If it does I don't know how I'll be able to let them know I had the medical because there seems to be no way of contacting them or updating the checklist. I think it's a very bad service that you have no way of communicating with them considering they take almost 200 euros from you with little work on their part.

[loughrey101 13]

I had fundamentally the same inquiry (will be going through London). Since the Embassy will not schedule their interview until the medical is finished, it seems you can cut many weeks off this long process IF you can schedule the medical once you get the number from NVC (even if the Embassy does not have the NVC papers yet) so as to have it done even before the Packet is sent to you from the Embassy, thus allowing you to instantly return the form saying you have everything ready, and thus schedule the interview. However, not sure if the doctors let you do this, or if when your medical stuff then gets transmitted to the Embassy their computers go into burnout mode dealing with medical exam results for someone as to whom they do not have the NVC materials yet. Any comments from the experts here would be appreciated. Thanks!

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense having the medical done before Packet 3 comes, if the doctor allows that. I was told my the panel doctor's office here in Ireland not to book with them until I have an appointment date from the embassy, so that's why I sent packet 3 prior to my medical. As I said in the last post, it's annoying that's there's no way to directly contact them and seek clarification or clear up confusions considering the application part if the most complicated of the whole process because each embassy has so many different requirements and can be quite confusing.

In my case I didn't get a number from NVC, I got it from the embassy. I think the number you use to apply for the visa to the embassy is given by the embassy and not the NVC because it is coded to the relevant location: in Ireland it begins with DBL because the embassy is in Dublin. I ndon't know how London works though. have you received packet 3 yet?