I have my visa interview at the embassy and am about my medical results

[Logres 0]

Hi All

When I was having my medical interview at the Knightsbridge doctors before Easter I had to admit to having had an arrest connected to alcohol. The event itself was harmless enough, causing damage while accidentally falling against a window as a 19 year old student (over ten years ago now).

So an extra toxicology test was done on the blood I submitted for the standard test. When I rang up for the results, I was told that there had been some discussion because my enzyme levels were slighty raised.... but then she said that it seemed OK and I was fine for alcohol. Like most 20-year-old-somethings living in England I probably do drink more than I should, but I would hardly think I've anything so out of the ordinary to have done any serious damage (which I think is the concern with enzyme levels). And in fact as luck would have it I hadn't drunk anything for days anyway, so thee wouldn't have been any alcohol in my blood.

So I was wondering if anyone had attended an interview in similar circumstances? and if so, what they had been asked? As I don't see that there is a particular problem with my lifestyle, I don't think there should be a problem with the interview. But I would rather not caught off-guard by any unexpected lines of questioning.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, and good luck to anyone else with an up and coming interview.

Ed.

[TracyTN 237]

Does your police certificate have any record of this arrest?

If not, I'm not sure why it'd come up - unless Knightsbridge put a note in your medical about it. Even at that, I think all they'd care is if you had a conviction from it or not.

Strange - I don't remember my fiance being asked anything about alcohol - I know there was something about it on the questionnaire - I think he must have said he drinks occasionally, but I suspect that's a pretty routine answer. How did they know to question you further? (Don't feel obligated to answer that if I'm being too nosy!)

FYI I put your name and interview date in our UK interviews thread.

Edited May 9, 2007 by TracyTN

[Logres 0]

Does your police certificate have any record of this arrest?

If not, I'm not sure why it'd come up - unless Knightsbridge put a note in your medical about it. Even at that, I think all they'd care is if you had a conviction from it or not.

Strange - I don't remember my fiance being asked anything about alcohol - I know there was something about it on the questionnaire - I think he must have said he drinks occasionally, but I suspect that's a pretty routine answer. How did they know to question you further? (Don't feel obligated to answer that if I'm being too nosy!)

FYI I put your name and interview date in our UK interviews thread.

Good question, no I received a caution and was not prosecuted. But as I'd admitted to the arrest on the DS-156, I didn't feel I could not mention it here. Knightsbridge did put a note on the questionnaire during the interview just to said that I appeared perfectly balanced and normal, basically saying I didn't seem to be an alcoholic. So I would guess that if any of the alcohol-related questions come up with a 'yes', they have been instructed to work out if you're an alcoholic or not. That's why the slightly iffy results have me a bit nervous.

Part of me thinks this won't be a problem, it's just that I'm walking into the unknown.

[TracyTN 237]

I can understand wanting to be consistant. Makes sense to me. At any rate, if their notation was positive (that you basically don't appear to be an alcoholic), I bet they won't say anything about it at the interview. Particularly if it does not show on your police cert.

IF they do bring it up, as you probably already know - just be honest and consistant with what you already said and I bet you'll be just fine.

Edited to say - but I'll be curious to find out, so be sure and come by after the interview and let us know what happened!

Edited May 9, 2007 by TracyTN

[Logres 0]

I can understand wanting to be consistant. Makes sense to me. At any rate, if their notation was positive (that you basically don't appear to be an alcoholic), I bet they won't say anything about it at the interview. Particularly if it does not show on your police cert.

IF they do bring it up, as you probably already know - just be honest and consistant with what you already said and I bet you'll be just fine.

Edited to say - but I'll be curious to find out, so be sure and come by after the interview and let us know what happened!

My police certificate is clean, which I gather is a big plus.

Anyway, thanks Tracy...... and after all the kind advice I've got from the folks on VJ, I'll be sure to post my feedback to help anyone else in a similar position.

[homesick_american 1]

I'm more concerned about your liver enzymes than your arrest.

If you're only 20 years old and are already having abnormal liver enzyme results that could be cause for concern. I'd get the exact results and share them with your GP, or ask them to forward them on. I'm not a doctor but raised liver enzymes could also be a sign of viral hepatitis. It's probably related to your drinking...cut back, NOW...but it could be something more serious. I read that liver disease has gone up by about 500% among young people in the UK in the last ten years. They're seeing people in their late 20s/early 30s in liver failure simply from drinking too much.

TALK TO YOUR GP ABOUT THIS PLEASE...while you can still get free healthcare! You can't live without a liver.

[Oath 0]

Honesty is the best policy on these forms, if you lie you generally get caught out, so good for you noting it, also unless you are an alchoholic / habitual drunkard, there is little to no reason for it to become an issue unless you have liver damage, your visa could be denied if you have a serious medical condition but generally they just want to make sure you have medical insurance, from what I read anyway