K1 Visa Approved! Pending Medical Exam. Need Advice please.

[LoveTakesOver 100]

My fiancé had his interview last Tuesday in Rio De Janeiro Brazil. Question: My fiancé has been approved pending medical exam results. He had his medical since July 3 and he had to do the TB Sputum test to wait 60 days for the test results. The doctor assured to him that sometimes or mostly the results come back in 45 days. It has been 45 days since Monday and still no result to the doctor so that he can release the full medical report to the Consulate.  If for any reason he gets the medical report by September 5 (60th day), do you think he can just deliver the medical report in person to the Embassy and talk to someone there without an appointment to see if they can expedite the visa issuance.? We have our flight booked already to Hawaii from Seattle on September 15 for the planned wedding September 19. He has to make it to Seattle by September 14. It put us into road blocks that we did not anticipate the whole TB test and we ended canceling the original interview appointment July 10. Please advise on what to expect and what can we do at this point. We are getting worried at this point.  😔 Thanks 🙏 

Edited August 26, 2018 by LoveTakesOver

[geowrian 22,338]

Sputum typically takes 6-8 weeks if there is a negative result (which is what you want), but I believe most panel physicians go by the 8 week CDC guideline.

 

I'll defer to others more familiar with the consulate/embassy with regard to how they handle delivery of the medical results. That said, it would be highly unusual to be able to just hand the results to a CO without having an interview appointment (how would you even enter the building?), nor would there be cause for an expedite.

 

Golden rule: never purchase anything you aren't willing to lose or make plans you are unable to alter until the visa is in hand.

 

Best wishes on a clean result and getting the visa in time.

[LoveTakesOver 100]

32 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Sputum typically takes 6-8 weeks if there is a negative result (which is what you want), but I believe most panel physicians go by the 8 week CDC guideline.

 

I'll defer to others more familiar with the consulate/embassy with regard to how they handle delivery of the medical results. That said, it would be highly unusual to be able to just hand the results to a CO without having an interview appointment (how would you even enter the building?), nor would there be cause for an expedite.

 

Golden rule: never purchase anything you aren't willing to lose or make plans you are unable to alter until the visa is in hand.

 

Best wishes on a clean result and getting the visa in time.

Thank you. We had to book the flight in May because of the companion fare deal was about to expire. I know it may seem unreasonable. So we had to take the risk thinking we would be done in July. We got our NOA2 approval in May 2nd. We could have the medical interview in May if it was available and that we would have sufficient time to prepare for unexpected outcome during the medical interview. Before that,   we anticipated that we were gonna get our NOA2 approval in January 2018 but there were other filers who filed after us and got approved before us. It didn’t seem fair to many of us because they took the slots for the medical appointments when they should be in priority order. We tend to not even think about it and we have been very patient with the whole process. We have been through many loops and extra waiting because of the USCIS failed system 😔. We filed our NOA1 September 6 and my friend who went through this process two years ago only took 4 months. 

Edited August 26, 2018 by LoveTakesOver

[p-ana 933]

Well, you can keep in contact with the doctor to get the eta for the results. And also email the consulate to ask if they could accommodate you whevener you have the results back to expedite or whatever you want to do. Is it possible? Yes. You have to try and see what happens.

Its at their discretion though, and they do advice to not make plans, sell real estate, etc, before having visa in hand... so If I were in your shoes, I’d definitely make a plan b, c, d... in case it takes longer and you won’t be able to keep your set plans in place.

 

best of luck

 

 

edit: every case is different, you can’t compare timelines, you just set yourself for disappointment. There is more than one doctor in Brazil, so if you wanted an earlier date, you could’ve shopped around. Others didn’t take your slot.

 

Edited August 26, 2018 by p-ana

[debbiedoo 2,339]

18 hours ago, LoveTakesOver said:

my friend who went through this process two years ago only took 4 months. 

 

two years ago processing times were much different. you only have yourself to blame for booking a flight before you had the visa in hand. 

 

 

[Unlockable 7,315]

20 hours ago, LoveTakesOver said:

The doctor assured to him that sometimes or mostly the results come back in 45 days.

You based your decision to take the risk on the doctor telling you that "sometimes or mostly" you can get it in 45 days?

 

You should have based your decision on getting at 60 days minimum.

 

Only thing you can do now is wait and see and make back up plans.

Edited August 27, 2018 by NuestraUnion

[LoveTakesOver 100]

1 hour ago, debbiedoo said:

two years ago processing times were much different. you only have yourself to blame for booking a flight before you had the visa in hand. 

 

 

Not sure if you read my concern, I am not saying that I am not blaming ourselves. In fact, we have not booked his flight to the U.S. The flight is for the wedding in Hawaii. We planned our wedding for September. At the Consulate, they usually ask the plans for the wedding and the date. I am here to post our experience that what happened two years ago, it is not the same anymore. 

[LoveTakesOver 100]

33 minutes ago, NuestraUnion said:

You based your decision to take the risk on the doctor telling you that "sometimes or mostly" you can get it in 45 days?

 

You should have based your decision on getting at 60 days minimum.

 

Only thing you can do now is wait and see and make back up plans.

Not sure if you read it correctly, we didn’t base the decision on the medical outcome. It was based on when we receive our NO2 in May 2. We could have our medical interview in May if it was available but it wasn’t. Then we wouldn’t have to worry the 60 days if he had to do the TB test.  It’s pretty rare for someone to go through the Sputum test.  We took the risk on planning the wedding date based on the probability because everyone who has posted on the forum went from having a smooth medical interview to the final approval in Brazil. There is a forum that talks about Sputum but mostly in the Philippines. Each country runs differently. I need more advice on what would you do if you are in our shoes? 

 

Yes we will wait.  The 60th day comes up soon. We just need to know if there are any options we can do based on the similar experience from the others.  Thanks.

[CEE53147 559]

Be sure to have a plan to cover a test failure and treatment.

[KozmicBlues 592]

My husband (then fiance) had to go through sputum testing. It took exactly 8 weeks, as they advised from the beginning, for the test results to be complete. They sent the results right away to the embassy and then the embassy contacted him within a few days for him to drop-off his passport. It think he had his passport in hand 1 week to 10 days from the date the test results were complete.

 

You're cutting it super close though, make sure you come up with a plan B for the worst case scenario of either 1) him not getting his visa/passport in time or 2) sputum test coming back positive and him having to stay for treatment. #2 is HIGHLY unlikely at this point - usually a positive will come back sooner than 45 days and they will contact him to start treatment ASAP. So no news is good news for the test results, not so much for the visa though.

 

Good luck!! 

[KozmicBlues 592]

On 8/25/2018 at 10:15 PM, LoveTakesOver said:

Thank you. We had to book the flight in May because of the companion fare deal was about to expire. I know it may seem unreasonable. So we had to take the risk thinking we would be done in July. We got our NOA2 approval in May 2nd. We could have the medical interview in May if it was available and that we would have sufficient time to prepare for unexpected outcome during the medical interview. Before that,   we anticipated that we were gonna get our NOA2 approval in January 2018 but there were other filers who filed after us and got approved before us. It didn’t seem fair to many of us because they took the slots for the medical appointments when they should be in priority order. We tend to not even think about it and we have been very patient with the whole process. We have been through many loops and extra waiting because of the USCIS failed system 😔. We filed our NOA1 September 6 and my friend who went through this process two years ago only took 4 months. 

Also...I can totally relate. We planned our wedding with a 3-4 month buffer beyond the expected approval time, but sure enough - we ended up having to cancel the original wedding plan because of delays with the K1. Luckily we hadn't booked flights yet, but had put a deposit down on a wedding venue and it was heartbreaking to cancel everything. It all worked out for the best in the end and my husband is here now, it was all worth it!

 

What I'm trying to say is... it's impossible to predict the immigration process or rely on any estimates/expectations/etc. Plan for the worst, hope for the best is my best advice to anyone going through the process!  

[LoveTakesOver 100]

On 8/27/2018 at 2:43 AM, CEE53147 said:

Be sure to have a plan to cover a test failure and treatment.

There will be no test failure since it was not based on the X-ray results. X-rays were very clear and smear tests were negative. 

 

Now you’ll probably thinking 🤔 why he has to go to sputum test. Not something we would know unless someone does their tactful research. 

 

And that is something we did not anticipate.

[LoveTakesOver 100]

17 hours ago, KozmicBlues said:

Also...I can totally relate. We planned our wedding with a 3-4 month buffer beyond the expected approval time, but sure enough - we ended up having to cancel the original wedding plan because of delays with the K1. Luckily we hadn't booked flights yet, but had put a deposit down on a wedding venue and it was heartbreaking to cancel everything. It all worked out for the best in the end and my husband is here now, it was all worth it!

 

What I'm trying to say is... it's impossible to predict the immigration process or rely on any estimates/expectations/etc. Plan for the worst, hope for the best is my best advice to anyone going through the process!  

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. This is what we need. 

 

We made our back up just in case. 

 

We hope miracle happens 😊

[LoveTakesOver 100]

On 8/26/2018 at 12:21 PM, p-ana said:

Well, you can keep in contact with the doctor to get the eta for the results. And also email the consulate to ask if they could accommodate you whevener you have the results back to expedite or whatever you want to do. Is it possible? Yes. You have to try and see what happens.

Its at their discretion though, and they do advice to not make plans, sell real estate, etc, before having visa in hand... so If I were in your shoes, I’d definitely make a plan b, c, d... in case it takes longer and you won’t be able to keep your set plans in place.

 

best of luck

 

 

edit: every case is different, you can’t compare timelines, you just set yourself for disappointment. There is more than one doctor in Brazil, so if you wanted an earlier date, you could’ve shopped around. Others didn’t take your slot.

 

Thank you we really appreciate your advice. 

[geowrian 22,338]

1 hour ago, LoveTakesOver said:

There will be no test failure since it was not based on the X-ray results. X-rays were very clear and smear tests were negative. 

 

Now you’ll probably thinking 🤔 why he has to go to sputum test. Not something we would know unless someone does their tactful research. 

 

And that is something we did not anticipate.

I'm sorry, but that is wishful thinking. They would not do sputum culture testing unless they found something on the other tests. That's just not how the process works. PPs are supported by the CDC and bound by their procedures, so they don't just add in unnecessary tests.

Now I'm not suggesting in any way they have TB...it's probably going to come back negative. But there is a chance of it coming back positive and one should be prepared.