Scandinavians Part 2

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 3:53 PM, AlexDRavn92 said:

Hello fellow Scandinavians!

 

Just had my interview and it went perfect, except they haven't received my medical examination yet, which i already knew was going to happen.

(My case got expedited and did not have time to schedule medical in good enough time in advance)

 

So the interviewer told me that he will send my passport when they receive the medical examination records.

My question is, does anybody know if the embassy will send me an email when they receive the medical examination records, to let me know?

 

 

Thank you for all your help. 

Congratulations!!!

 

 

My husband had the same exact scenario for his, and they didn't send him anything. But he was able to see his case update in the system, if you monitor that, presumably once they received the medical info and verified it. Once it changed in the system, he received his passport with the visa in it literally within 48 hours. It was pretty fast - within a week I believe.

[Pininfarina 74]

I just noticed the Medical exam in Gothenburg is now 4950kr!

 

 

Edited October 20, 2019 by Pininfarina

[Scandi 4,166]

22 minutes ago, Pininfarina said:

I just noticed the Medical exam in Gothenburg is now 4950kr!

 

 

Crazy. In August 2016 I paid 2800kr.

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

On ‎10‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 3:38 AM, Scandi said:

Crazy. In August 2016 I paid 2800kr.

Wow... yeah, Paul had his at the beginning of 2018 and I'm pretty sure it was under 300 bucks (USD). That's insane.

[jules98 44]

5 minutes ago, Paul & Mallory said:

Wow... yeah, Paul had his at the beginning of 2018 and I'm pretty sure it was under 300 bucks (USD). That's insane.

I paid around 5000 NOK for mine in Oslo a few months ago, including the X-ray. (And that’s not even considering the cost of flying over and staying at a hotel) 😩

[MalinB 51]

Our NOA2 just arrived in the mail (yay!) with an expiration date of February 21st. My fiance is currently deployed to Afghanistan and will be back in the U.S. in August when I plan on joining him. I'm just a little concerned about the expiration, first of all: I've read that I have six months to enter the U.S. after the visa is issued, but it really depends on the medical (it's six months after the medical). It also seems to differ depending on embassy? Can anyone who has gotten their visa recently confirm the timeline?

 

Second: has anyone tried to extend the NOA2? I would really prefer to extend it a few months and go for my interview a little later in the spring, but apparently that is also up to the embassy's discretion. Will Stockholm do this?

[Scandi 4,166]

3 hours ago, MalinB said:

Our NOA2 just arrived in the mail (yay!) with an expiration date of February 21st. My fiance is currently deployed to Afghanistan and will be back in the U.S. in August when I plan on joining him. I'm just a little concerned about the expiration, first of all: I've read that I have six months to enter the U.S. after the visa is issued, but it really depends on the medical (it's six months after the medical). It also seems to differ depending on embassy? Can anyone who has gotten their visa recently confirm the timeline?

 

Second: has anyone tried to extend the NOA2? I would really prefer to extend it a few months and go for my interview a little later in the spring, but apparently that is also up to the embassy's discretion. Will Stockholm do this?

The validity of the visa itself is 6 months from the medical. Not from the interview. This is because the medical is only valid for 6 months for entering the US. Once the medical expires you can't use the visa any longer, that's why they give the visa the same expiration date as the medical.

 

Email the embassy when you need to extend the validity of your approved i-129f, they'll fix that, no issues. It can be extended for up to a year, usually 4 months at a time, so you have plenty of time before you need to move.

 

If you have the validity extended they may ask for a new, updated letter of intent to marry (ie a new date on it). Not an issue really.

[Pininfarina 74]

Medical done today in Gothenburg and here is the timeframe.

 

09:30 Check in

09:32 Nurse came and took blood pressure, blood sample, urine test, height/weight and eyesight check.

10:00  Meet with Dr. We went through my medical history, checked my reflexes and breathing.

he looked at my vaccinations and I had to take one shot.

I handed him the two passport photos required. 

10:30 I was sent to Carlanderska sjukhuset for X-ray. Dr provided me a note (remiss) for the hospital.

Here I found out that people sent from Dr Einar get a vip treatment and will cut through the line.

10:45 Two X-ray pictures taken

11:00 I received a USB stick of X-ray results that must be given to the CBP officer on arrival.

 

All and all a very pleasant and quick experience.

 

 

[MalinB 51]

4 minutes ago, Pininfarina said:

Medical done today in Gothenburg and here is the timeframe.

 

09:30 Check in

09:32 Nurse came and took blood pressure, blood sample, urine test, height/weight and eyesight check.

10:00  Meet with Dr. We went through my medical history, checked my reflexes and breathing.

he looked at my vaccinations and I had to take one shot.

I handed him the two passport photos required. 

10:30 I was sent to Carlanderska sjukhuset for X-ray. Dr provided me a note (remiss) for the hospital.

Here I found out that people sent from Dr Einar get a vip treatment and will cut through the line.

10:45 Two X-ray pictures taken

11:00 I received a USB stick of X-ray results that must be given to the CBP officer on arrival.

 

All and all a very pleasant and quick experience.

 

 

Thank you for that! How much did all of it cost, including the vaccine?

[Pininfarina 74]

2 minutes ago, MalinB said:

Thank you for that! How much did all of it cost, including the vaccine?

 

I was expecting to pay 4950kr as advertised on their website but I was charged 3750kr.

 

I wasn’t charged for the shot. 

[MalinB 51]

Just now, Pininfarina said:

 

I was expecting to pay 4950kr as advertised on their website but I was charged 3750kr.

 

I wasn’t charged for the shot. 

Hopefully they will keep the 3650kr fee until I’m ready to go in the spring 😅 I’m wondering why they didn’t charge for the vaccine though... I think I have all my shots, but was planning on refilling the ones I may need before going. Maybe I shouldn’t 😜

[Pininfarina 74]

1 minute ago, MalinB said:

Hopefully they will keep the 3650kr fee until I’m ready to go in the spring 😅 I’m wondering why they didn’t charge for the vaccine though... I think I have all my shots, but was planning on refilling the ones I may need before going. Maybe I shouldn’t 😜

 

I hope so, but I think they just made the price change. 

 

The shot was for Tetanus (Stelkramp) as they only last 10 years. So get that done at vårdcentralen just in case they charge you.

 

 

[Reverie 10]

Ugh, time is going so slooooowly right now. USCIS received our response to their AOS RFE on October 16th so we're just waiting. After almost a year in the US I'm still not able to work due to all the problems with our old lawyer, delaying our AOS for months and months. And my green card is even farther away 😔

On a good note, my husband and I will be closing on our first house around Christmas. It's such a cute little house that reminds me of home and the mortgage is a lot cheaper than paying rent. This has been but a distant dream of ours for six years but now it's finally happening!! 

[MalinB 51]

42 minutes ago, Reverie said:

Ugh, time is going so slooooowly right now. USCIS received our response to their AOS RFE on October 16th so we're just waiting. After almost a year in the US I'm still not able to work due to all the problems with our old lawyer, delaying our AOS for months and months. And my green card is even farther away 😔

On a good note, my husband and I will be closing on our first house around Christmas. It's such a cute little house that reminds me of home and the mortgage is a lot cheaper than paying rent. This has been but a distant dream of ours for six years but now it's finally happening!! 

Oh no, this has me worried - a whole year?? I was expecting up to 8 months and I didn't even realize you could get an RFE for AOS. I tried to look at your timeline, but noticed you haven't filled it out, would you mind sharing important dates like when you entered the U.S., got married, sent in the paperwork for AOS aso? Also, may I ask what the RFE was for..? 

 

Congrats on the house!! It must feel good to finally get a place of your own

Edited November 25, 2019 by MalinB

[Reverie 10]

5 minutes ago, MalinB said:

Oh no, this has me worried - a whole year?? I was expecting up to 8 months and I didn't even realize you could get an RFE for AOS. I tried to look at your timeline, but noticed you haven't filled it out, would you mind sharing important dates like when you entered the U.S., got married, sent in the paperwork for AOS aso? Also, may I ask what the RFE was for..? 

 

Congrats on the house!! It must feel good to finally get a place of your own

My bad, I've been meaning to do my timeline, but forgot. I'll do it asap!
Most of this is our own fault, though. Our wedding plans feel through due to my aunt getting sick back home, so we didn't get married until our 90 days were almost up. Then my husband insisted we use a lawyer for our AOS, but we was horrible and took his sweet time on everything, so we fired him. All of this added several months to our process.

I do feel like USCIS is working slower and becoming stricter, through. We had absolutely no problems during our K1 process, but they've been giving us a hard time now. They're pretty vague with their RFEs, they said there was no birth certificate when clearly there was, but we figured it may be due to the fact that the stamp on the copy we sent was barely noticeable, so we did a new copy of my birth certificate with a much better stamp. Then they said that my husband didn't meet the requirements for being my sponsor when he makes much more than what's required, so we sent a new form (affidavit of support) with additional evidence. Again, I believe this could have been avoided if we had done the paperwork ourselves, but my husband insisted we use a lawyer.

 

And thanks! It's very exciting 🥰