Our Interview is on Tuesday!

[LauraDP 10]

Morning, VJers

I just had a phone call from a rather brusque woman from the London Embassy informing me that the interview for the kids and me is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 8am (I know that I won't be interviewed at 8am, of course, just that I have to join the first-come-first-serve queue then). We are going off to visit my in-laws on Saturday morning so will be travelling to London from Wiltshire rather than all the way from the Scottish Highlands so the timing works well in that regard.

However, our medicals are scheduled for 1pm on Monday. Obviously with five of us going through the medicals that is going to take a while. So I am a bit confused and panicked that the Embassy have not scheduled enough of a gap between the medical and the interview because everything I had read led me to believe they wanted a gap of at least a few days in order to review the results of the medical. The Embassy are aware of the date of our medical appointments as the covering letter sent with our DS2001s and DS230s informed them of that. I don't want to risk going along to the interview and being told they cannot deal with us that day because of the medical having just been the previous afternoon. I am in my usual panic mode in other words.

Does anyone else have experience of being scheduled this close together?

Should I phone the Embassy and ask them to push our interview back a few days? (The woman on the phone would not even enter into a discussion with me about the proximity to the medical - she was really frosty).

I am going to need to book hotel accommodation for an overnight stay in London so I need to sort this out soon.

Thanks in advance for any responses!

Best wishes

Laura

[lost_at_sea 995]

Yay. That's good news.

I wouldn't worry much about the proximity. I imagine what will happen is you have the medical Monday, interview Tuesday - that would be "approved" and your passports held while they await the missing info - they get your results Thursday and issue your visas a day or two later, then hopefully return to you in the following 10 days.

The only reason it might be a pain is if something comes up at the medical, so the gap between them getting them to the embassy and you getting your passport back would be longer.

[LauraDP 10]

Yay. That's good news.

I wouldn't worry much about the proximity. I imagine what will happen is you have the medical Monday, interview Tuesday - that would be "approved" and your passports held while they await the missing info - they get your results Thursday and issue your visas a day or two later, then hopefully return to you in the following 10 days.

The only reason it might be a pain is if something comes up at the medical, so the gap between them getting them to the embassy and you getting your passport back would be longer.

Thanks, lost_at_sea. You always seem to be around when I need my bubble of panic to be burst.

I am absolutely confident nothing troubling will crop up at the medical. We are all in good health and have no medical conditions whatsoever. So as long as they do not absolutely require to have sight of the medical results ahead of the interview I guess we are OK then.

We are in no rush for the visas because my husband doesn't even start work in the US until 30 September so a short delay for them to review our case file including the medical results does not present us with a problem. The kids and I are probably looking to fly out in November given everything my husband has to organise before we can join him.

Thanks

Laura

PS I hope not everyone at the Embassy is as harsh as the phone call lady.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Thanks, lost_at_sea. You always seem to be around when I need my bubble of panic to be burst.

I am absolutely confident nothing troubling will crop up at the medical. We are all in good health and have no medical conditions whatsoever. So as long as they do not absolutely require to have sight of the medical results ahead of the interview I guess we are OK then.

We are in no rush for the visas because my husband doesn't even start work in the US until 30 September so a short delay for them to review our case file including the medical results does not present us with a problem. The kids and I are probably looking to fly out in November given everything my husband has to organise before we can join him.

Thanks

Laura

PS I hope not everyone at the Embassy is as harsh as the phone call lady.

Everyone I interacted with at the embassy on the day was lovely.

So, if you're not in a hurry you could reschedule. I think you'd have to get on the phone, though, since Tuesday is so close.

Personally, I'd just go for it - as you say, you're not in a super hurry, so you've plenty of time if it takes London a few days to marry up your medical results to your passports and issue the visas. Most complicated case would be they don't keep your passports and you have to send them in when they ask, but that seems unlikely given your results would only be 2 days out.

They should be aware of when your medical is from your cover letter, anyway.

Also! Exciting! Tuesday!

Edited July 25, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Jviddy 1]

No Jealous at all

Ok maybe a little

[mindthegap 2,601]

The requirement is that the medical has taken place before the interview, which you will fulfill. You will be approved pending results arriving from the doctors- which will probably arrive a day or so at most after the interview.

I wouldn't worry about it- if they are aware of the dates and they contacted you to make an appointment then its all good,

One other thing- If my rusty memory serves me well, your children are quite young aren't they?

If they are under 14, I believe they don't have to go to the interview with you..

It is buried here: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/unitedkingdom/164203/cons-visa/IV018_iv_appt_letter.pdf

That is form IV018 from the instructions and address given on the appointment letter that is sent out- http://london.usembassy.gov/visaforms.html - which you wont have had given they phoned you instead!

They will of course still have to go the medical but if you don't have to take them to the embassy that may make it somewhat easier for you!

[LauraDP 10]

No Jealous at all

Ok maybe a little

I do know how you feel since I have been lapped several times by people who joined this site after we had our I130s and already have their visas in hand. That was a bit disheartening while we were treading water and wondering whether to just abandon the whole plan for relocating. We, of course, stalled the process deliberately so that my husband could secure a job that pays enough to support all six of us and obviously that took a while so the delay was entirely of our choosing. Suddenly our timeline has compressed and we are in a rush.

Your time will come.

Best wishes

Laura

[LauraDP 10]

The requirement is that the medical has taken place before the interview, which you will fulfill. You will be approved pending results arriving from the doctors- which will probably arrive a day or so at most after the interview.

I wouldn't worry about it- if they are aware of the dates and they contacted you to make an appointment then its all good,

One other thing- If my rusty memory serves me well, your children are quite young aren't they?

If they are under 14, I believe they don't have to go to the interview with you..

It is buried here: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/unitedkingdom/164203/cons-visa/IV018_iv_appt_letter.pdf

That is form IV018 from the instructions and address given on the appointment letter that is sent out- http://london.usembassy.gov/visaforms.html - which you wont have had given they phoned you instead!

They will of course still have to go the medical but if you don't have to take them to the embassy that may make it somewhat easier for you!

Thanks, mindthegap.

I appreciate the link in particular since they are posting the letters out to my in-laws' house but they may arrive too late for us to read before we head up to London for the medical on Monday.

The whole thing about whether our children attend or not is ambiguous. You are correct in remembering that they are all under 14 (10, 7, 6 and 4) but they have all been maintained on their own case files and have not been placed under the umbrella of my petition. We had assumed they would gather us all together as one file but instead we have all been kept separate. I guess, therefore, I would prefer to err on the side of caution and take them to the interview with me. Besides which, I have to take them for the medicals so they will be in London with us anyway so we really have no choice but to take them. The only option in that scenario would be for my husband to keep them out of the Embassy and I attend the interview on my own but I would prefer my husband to be there because of the "intent to establish domicile" element.

I just have to find ways to keep them entertained during all of the queuing and waiting at the Embassy. Lots and lots of puzzle books and sticker books.

Thanks

Laura

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

.

However, our medicals are scheduled for 1pm on Monday. Obviously with five of us going through the medicals that is going to take a while. So I am a bit confused and panicked that the Embassy have not scheduled enough of a gap between the medical and the interview because everything I had read led me to believe they wanted a gap of at least a few days in order to review the results of the medical. The Embassy are aware of the date of our medical appointments as the covering letter sent with our DS2001s and DS230s informed them of that. I don't want to risk going along to the interview and being told they cannot deal with us that day because of the medical having just been the previous afternoon. I am in my usual panic mode in other words.

Does anyone else have experience of being scheduled this close together?

Should I phone the Embassy and ask them to push our interview back a few days? (The woman on the phone would not even enter into a discussion with me about the proximity to the medical - she was really frosty).

I am going to need to book hotel accommodation for an overnight stay in London so I need to sort this out soon.

Thanks in advance for any responses!

Best wishes

Laura

Congratulations Laura.

Go to your interview as scheduled. People used to go the day before their medical even. They are fine with it. There is no visa requirement saying medical before interview. It's just medical before visa can be approved. The get-it-done-early requirement is just a way to make it all go smoother for the embassy so they can get people in, approved, and on to the visa printing station without backtracking to review again at a later time. You may not get your passport/visas back until mid August because of days to get the medical results and days to get them to go back to your case and approve.

It's a busy month at the embassy, so squeezing in four cases is impressive. Yay!

[LauraDP 10]

Congratulations Laura.

Go to your interview as scheduled. People used to go the day before their medical even. They are fine with it. There is no visa requirement saying medical before interview. It's just medical before visa can be approved. The get-it-done-early requirement is just a way to make it all go smoother for the embassy so they can get people in, approved, and on to the visa printing station without backtracking to review again at a later time. You may not get your passport/visas back until mid August because of days to get the medical results and days to get them to go back to your case and approve.

It's a busy month at the embassy, so squeezing in four cases is impressive. Yay!

Thanks, Nich-Nick

I am assuming they have wedged us in precisely because we are five cases. It is a way of them getting us done and dusted and off their To Do list. Maybe someone has also been compassionate and recognised the distance I would have to travel with four kids in tow.

I assume they mail out the passports and visas so I will need to remember to stress to them at what point we are switching addresses to move in with my in-laws. We will be getting our mail forwarded from home, of course, but I don't want to risk anything being lost in the mail by going on a silly journey around the post system.

Cheers for reassuring me about the scheduling.

Best wishes

Laura

[lost_at_sea 995]

I assume they mail out the passports and visas so I will need to remember to stress to them at what point we are switching addresses to move in with my in-laws. We will be getting our mail forwarded from home, of course, but I don't want to risk anything being lost in the mail by going on a silly journey around the post system.

On the day, they give you a courier sheet. On that sheet, you can put whatever address you like for delivery (I assume a lot of people use their work addresses, for instance). So, you get a chance to make sure that's exactly where you want it to be.

[LauraDP 10]

On the day, they give you a courier sheet. On that sheet, you can put whatever address you like for delivery (I assume a lot of people use their work addresses, for instance). So, you get a chance to make sure that's exactly where you want it to be.

Thanks, lost_at_sea.

I think from now on we are going to use my in-laws' address for everything just to be sure so that is reassuring.

Cheers

Laura

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Thanks, Nich-Nick

I am assuming they have wedged us in precisely because we are five cases. It is a way of them getting us done and dusted and off their To Do list. Maybe someone has also been compassionate and recognised the distance I would have to travel with four kids in tow.

I assume they mail out the passports and visas so I will need to remember to stress to them at what point we are switching addresses to move in with my in-laws. We will be getting our mail forwarded from home, of course, but I don't want to risk anything being lost in the mail by going on a silly journey around the post system.

Cheers for reassuring me about the scheduling.

Best wishes

Laura

When do you expect to move in with the inlaws? If it's in August, give the inlaw address to the courier. If it's September, then should be fine to receive passports at home. I figured you would be ramping it up to get moved to the US and the kids in their new schools by the start to ease their transition. (That's the teacher in me who would put that first.)

Since it's a courier, you can redirect the delivery by calling them if needed. You get notification the day before when delivery is expected.

[LauraDP 10]

When do you expect to move in with the inlaws? If it's in August, give the inlaw address to the courier. If it's September, then should be fine to receive passports at home. I figured you would be ramping it up to get moved to the US and the kids in their new schools by the start to ease their transition. (That's the teacher in me who would put that first.)

Since it's a courier, you can redirect the delivery by calling them if needed. You get notification the day before when delivery is expected.

Our ideal timeline was indeed to move out over the summer and get the kids settled into new schools at the start of the academic year (I am a teacher too!) and that was what we were aiming for when we began this process. However, my husband's recruitment process was such a saga that it has pushed our timeline. He does not start work in the US until 30 September and his plan is to fly out on 16 September to find somewhere to live, sort out a car and that sort of thing. Once he has found somewhere for us all to live and has enough basic furniture for the kids to be comfortable the kids and I can join him. So unfortunately we are going to have to have them join in school once it is already underway. We also cannot go any sooner because of the need to wrap up all of our affairs here, not least of which is getting our house sold.

We will be moving in with the in-laws in very early September so you are probably right that they could send the passports and visas to our home address. I will ask at the interview about the expected timeline for sending out the passports just to be sure.

Thanks

Laura

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Congrats Laura! I see your husband got a job and your plan is coming to fruition! Well done!