Wife admitted to marijuana use in medical check up - consequences?

[MexicoExpat 18]

Hi, 

 

My wife and I are going through DCF and she has just had her medical check up this morning. They took blood and urine samples first. We are not sure if they were tested for drug use or not. 

 

My wife does not smoke marijuana very often, the last time being 4 weeks ago. 

 

They asked her if she had ever smoked marijuana and she replied yes. They asked when and she was honest about it being 4 weeks ago. 

 

They asked her a few more questions, it sounds like to determine if it was habitual use or not, to which her answers were indicative that it's not habitual. 

 

I've been looking up online that her answer alone may be enough to give her a 1 year ban. I also am working with a lawyer and they have seen this both be grounds for a ban, as well as going through successfully without issue. Fingers crossed it won't become an issue.

 

My 2 questions:

 

1. When will we know if this is an issue or not? She is still waiting to receive her medical packet back. Will we have any way of knowing upon receiving it? Or we will only know once we go to the interview? The interview is still 5 weeks ago, so it will be a nerve-wracking 5 weeks if so. 

 

2. Does the 1 year ban apply only to our immigrant visa, or does it ban her from the US entirely? She current hols a tourist visa that is valid for another few years. If he does receive the ban will we still be able to travel to the US for short visits on her tourist visa? 

[Ontarkie 14,307]

You would need to look in the Regional forum to see what Mexico normally does. Some it is a 1 year ban with random drug test, others Countries  it is six months with tests. 

You won't know until the interview. If they give her a ban I don't think her tourist visa will be any good. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Ontarkie

[MexicoExpat 18]

Hi,

 

My wife attended her medical exam in CDMX today. When the doctor asked her about marijuana use she said she had smoked marijuana 4 weeks ago. 

 

We were both completely unaware that this was such a big issue, though she never had any intention to lie, thus responding honestly. 

 

He asked her a few more questions about it, probably trying to determine how much of a marijuana user she is, but she truthfully couldn't even remember the previous time she smoke and told him that. 

 

She did NOT receive a sealed packet when she left the interview, but did receive a note from the doctor with a recommendation for group counseling. 

 

He told her "I don't think you're an abuser, but take this recommendation in case they want you to do something further after the interview. They might or might not."

 

While this sounds reassuring on paper, it sounds like he's just not able to give an answer one way or the other. I've also read that not receiving a sealed packet is a bad sign. 

 

So I'm curious if anyone applying from Mexico has ever admitted to light marijuana use during the medical interview and had it not become an issue during the visa interview. 

 

We are so close now, and it's absurd to us that my wife who barely ever uses marijuana, would be denied and thus banned from the US for 1 year because of drug use. We aren't denying what she did, we just had no idea it was so extreme. 

[MexicoExpat 18]

Is there any chance at all that this is not an issue at the visa interview? I know this can't be predicted, but is it even a possibility?

 

The doctor did NOT give her a sealed packet when she left but did give her a letter recommending her for group counseling.

 

He told her "I don't think you're a user but because fo the recent use I'll make this recommendation. They may want you to do it or they may not"

 

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we get to the interview and they recognize that she has no issues with marijuana abuse, but reading lots of other stories it seems once can be enough for a 1 year ban. 

 

 

[Rob Beri 68]

1 hour ago, MexicoExpat said:

 

I have not extensive knowledge on this. However,  from what people share on VJ this definitly is an issue. Most likely your wife will face denial at the interview stage. Also, probably you can only petition after a year, or so, after the denial. I am not trying to suggar coat anything. On the bright side your wife did not lie anything. It would have been worse if she did. Her lab work perhaps tested positive for THC levels anyway. Good luck.

[geowrian 22,337]

1 hour ago, MexicoExpat said:

Is there any chance at all that this is not an issue at the visa interview? I know this can't be predicted, but is it even a possibility?

Yes, it is possible there is no ban.

That said, usage as recent as 4 weeks prior suggests that she is likely a somewhat regular user (it's probably not a one-off event), so I would tend to err on the side of there is more likely a ban than not.

But there is no way to know until they make a decision.

Good luck.

[TBoneTX 45,603]

Parallel threads have been merged.  Please post just once on a single topic.

[MexicoExpat 18]

6 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Parallel threads have been merged.  Please post just once on a single topic.

Why did you do this? 

 

A global mod above told me to post it in the Mexico regional forum. 

 

Can you unmerge them? 

[SalishSea 17,970]

4 hours ago, MexicoExpat said:

Why did you do this? 

 

A global mod above told me to post it in the Mexico regional forum. 

 

Can you unmerge them? 

You're not allowed to post multiple threads on the same topic, which is why they were merged.  See the TOS.

[MexicoExpat 18]

42 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

You're not allowed to post multiple threads on the same topic, which is why they were merged.  See the TOS.

The topic of the two posts are different. 

 

First one from the CR1 forum is asking when we will know if this is an issue for us or not and if it will affect her tourist visa. 

 

Second one from the Mexico regional forum is asking for specific experiences of people in our region who has gone through this, and whether they experience issues. 

 

Two very different questions about the same topic, with one specifically asking for local advice. 

 

Pretty disappointing that my post is now not showing at all in the regional forum when it would be most likely to get an accurate response there. 

[dnwee 0]

23 hours ago, MexicoExpat said:

Hi, 

 

My wife and I are going through DCF and she has just had her medical check up this morning. They took blood and urine samples first. We are not sure if they were tested for drug use or not. 

 

My wife does not smoke marijuana very often, the last time being 4 weeks ago. 

 

They asked her if she had ever smoked marijuana and she replied yes. They asked when and she was honest about it being 4 weeks ago. 

 

They asked her a few more questions, it sounds like to determine if it was habitual use or not, to which her answers were indicative that it's not habitual. 

 

I've been looking up online that her answer alone may be enough to give her a 1 year ban. I also am working with a lawyer and they have seen this both be grounds for a ban, as well as going through successfully without issue. Fingers crossed it won't become an issue.

 

My 2 questions:

 

1. When will we know if this is an issue or not? She is still waiting to receive her medical packet back. Will we have any way of knowing upon receiving it? Or we will only know once we go to the interview? The interview is still 5 weeks ago, so it will be a nerve-wracking 5 weeks if so. 

 

2. Does the 1 year ban apply only to our immigrant visa, or does it ban her from the US entirely? She current hols a tourist visa that is valid for another few years. If he does receive the ban will we still be able to travel to the US for short visits on her tourist visa? 

Hey, 

 

My husband as well doesn't smoke often but for his medical exam he was truthful everything came out good at our interview now we just have to wait for the medical result to come in because it wasn't ready for the interview so now all we have to do is pray that everything goes well but with the medical results he has to send it in with his passport. I think it helps if your honest about marijuana use because my lawyer explained that if your truthful your better off not having a serious issue.. But if you don't take the truth it can be a problem 

[MexicoExpat 18]

1 minute ago, dnwee said:

Hey, 

 

My husband as well doesn't smoke often but for his medical exam he was truthful everything came out good at our interview now we just have to wait for the medical result to come in because it wasn't ready for the interview so now all we have to do is pray that everything goes well but with the medical results he has to send it in with his passport. I think it helps if your honest about marijuana use because my lawyer explained that if your truthful your better off not having a serious issue.. But if you don't take the truth it can be a problem 

Thanks for your reply. I'm guessing this happened in DR and not in Mexico based on the info below your name?

 

Do you mind me asking a couple more questions?

 

1. When did he say in the medical checkup the last time he smoked was? My wife's was 3 week's prior but does not remember the time before that it was so long ago - doctor seemed to believe that

2. Did you not receive a sealed packet after the medical check up like other patients? My wife did not and we thought that was a bad sign

3. Are you sure everything is OK and the green card will be granted? Or are you still worried there is is something within the medical report relating to weed which may become an issue?

4. Did they ask anything during the visa interview about marijuana use? Or is it possible they are unaware until they see the medical report?

 

We did our medical check up about 5 weeks before the visa interview, so hopefully in our case the results (whatever they are) will be available at the consulate by the time of our interview. 

 

Thanks in advance for your help. 

 

 

[SalishSea 17,970]

40 minutes ago, MexicoExpat said:

The topic of the two posts are different. 

 

First one from the CR1 forum is asking when we will know if this is an issue for us or not and if it will affect her tourist visa. 

 

Second one from the Mexico regional forum is asking for specific experiences of people in our region who has gone through this, and whether they experience issues. 

 

Two very different questions about the same topic, with one specifically asking for local advice. 

 

Pretty disappointing that my post is now not showing at all in the regional forum when it would be most likely to get an accurate response there. 

Dude.  I did not move your post.  I am simply explaining the rationale behind the mods’ decisions to move posts, and the supporting TOS.  Take it or leave it.

[MexicoExpat 18]

Just now, Jorgedig said:

Dude.  I did not move your post.  I am simply explaining the rationale behind the mods’ decisions to move posts, and the supporting TOS.  Take it or leave it.

I didn't say you were. I'm just explaining why the two posts were different, so hopefully when someone with the power to unmerge posts reads this thread, they will notice it. There's a perfectly valid reason for it to be in two places. 

[Boiler 45,735]

My understanding is that Mexico is usually the 1 year, but she will not know until she has attended the Consulate Interview.

 

My recollection is that Mexico also cancels B visa's but there does not seem to be any certainty on this.