Medical Exam Before Interview Date

[ZC92 0]

I am applying for a CR1.

My wife is American, and she is currently in the USA. I am in Germany.

We have submitted all documents, and now we are waiting to hopefully get the interview date soon.

Getting an appointment for medical exams can take some time here. I got one that is on the 25th of July, but now one opened up for tomorrow.

My question is, can I do the medical exam before I get the interview date or not? I am seeing conflicting information online, some saying you need only the case number, and some that you also need to have the interview scheduled already.

Reading some forum posts, only the DS-260 and the case number is required. I am really conflicted now on what to do.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

[appleblossom 2,482]

You’ll need to check with the place where she’ll have the medical. Some won’t take appointments without the IL, some will. We booked ours before we had our IL with just the case number, we knew the IL was imminent and we only had one week when we could get the medical done due to our children sitting important exams. So we just went ahead as the doctors in London let you do that, but not all will. We ended up getting the IL just before the medical date anyway so took it with us, but they never asked for it. 
 

Also just bear in mind the visa will be valid for 6 months from the date of medical usually. So if you have to wait a while for the interview that could be problematic. 

Edited June 18, 2023 by appleblossom

[Volli 31]

If you are already NVC DQ'd they should have sent you the German consulate Case ID which you need to bring to the medical exam along with the DS-260 confirmation page. Since they don't give you a sealed envelope after the medical exam anymore the Case ID is needed by them to enter your medical results in their "eMedical" database. The consulate has access to this database and during the interview process they refer to your record using the consulate Case ID. At least this is how it worked for my case.

 

Anyway, don't make the medical appointment too early because you can only enter the US with your immigration visa within 6 month after the medical exam. If you are not DQ'd yet I would wait for it if I was you. If you use the Doclib system to manage your medical exam appointment my experience is that there are a lot of early dates available because people have canceled their appointments. You can sign up there for receiving a note whenever an ealier date is available.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Volli

[ZC92 0]

8 minutes ago, Volli said:

If you are already NVC DQ'd they should have sent you the German consulate Case ID which you need to bring to the medical exam along with the DS-260 confirmation page. Since they don't give you a sealed envelope after the medical exam anymore the Case ID is needed by them to enter your medical results in their "eMedical" database. The consulate has access to this database and during the interview process they refer to your record using the consulate Case ID. At least this is how it worked for my case.

 

Anyway, don't make the medical appointment too early because you can only enter the US with your immigration visa within 6 month after the medical exam. If you are not DQ'd yet I would wait for it if I was you. If you use the Doclib system to manage your medical exam appointment my experience is that there are a lot of early dates available because people have canceled their appointments. You can sign up there for receiving a note when an ealier date is available.

Thank you for the info!

I am not yet DQ'd, so it is probably smarter to wait a bit.

Is the Case ID same as the Case Number on the CEAC webpage?

 

Do you maybe know, how long does it take for the CEAC to review the documents, after all have been submitted?

 

[ZC92 0]

21 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

You’ll need to check with the place where she’ll have the medical. Some won’t take appointments without the IL, some will. We booked ours before we had our IL with just the case number, we knew the IL was imminent and we only had one week when we could get the medical done due to our children sitting important exams. So we just went ahead as the doctors in London let you do that, but not all will. We ended up getting the IL just before the medical date anyway so took it with us, but they never asked for it. 
 

Also just bear in mind the visa will be valid for 6 months from the date of medical usually. So if you have to wait a while for the interview that could be problematic. 

Thank you for the info!

Yeah, I am only worried because of the interview date, which I don't have. So it's probably smarter to wait.

[appleblossom 2,482]

5 minutes ago, ZC92 said:

Thank you for the info!

Yeah, I am only worried because of the interview date, which I don't have. So it's probably smarter to wait.

If you're not even DQ'ed yet, then definitely smarter to wait I think. I don't know if Germany has a backlog for interviews at the moment, but even in a quick embassy it would be 3-4 months from DQ to interview date so that wouldn't leave you much time before the visa expired.

 

I'd keep your 25th July appointment, you won't be interviewed before then anyway, so that may work and if that's still too early you can cancel and reschedule.

Edited June 18, 2023 by appleblossom

[Volli 31]

3 minutes ago, ZC92 said:

Thank you for the info!

I am not yet DQ'd, so it is probably smarter to wait a bit.

Is the Case ID same as the Case Number on the CEAC webpage?

 

Do you maybe know, how long does it take for the CEAC to review the documents, after all have been submitted?

 

I just looked at my DS-260. The case ID is already printed there. So you can actually book a medical exam already.

 

I've attached a PDF from the Frankfurt medical visa facility. It clearly states what is required for the different types of visas.

USA-Medical-Visa.pdf

[Volli 31]

14 minutes ago, ZC92 said:

Do you maybe know, how long does it take for the CEAC to review the documents, after all have been submitted?

 

Look here under "Current case review time:"

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html

 

This timing was correct (give or take two days) in my case.

 

But again, don't make an medical appointment too early in the process!

Edited June 18, 2023 by Volli

[ZC92 0]

2 minutes ago, Volli said:

I just looked at my DS-260. The case ID is already printed there. So you can actually book a medical exam already.

 

I've attached a PDF from the Frankfurt medical visa facility. It clearly states what is required for the different types of visas.

USA-Medical-Visa.pdf 513.04 kB · 0 downloads

Thank you for this!

 

Do you maybe remember how long it took for you to get DQ?

That is the only information I am missing now, because if it takes a few months anyway, I can just go to my original appointment on the 25th of July.

[Volli 31]

4 minutes ago, ZC92 said:

Thank you for this!

 

Do you maybe remember how long it took for you to get DQ?

That is the only information I am missing now, because if it takes a few months anyway, I can just go to my original appointment on the 25th of July.

Follow the link I included in my previous post. The timeline there was very accurate and it only took a couple of weeks (not months) from all submitted to DQ'd.

[ZC92 0]

2 minutes ago, Volli said:

Follow the link I included in my previous post. The timeline there was very accurate and it only took a couple of weeks (not months) from all submitted to DQ'd.

Oh sorry, I missed your other post.

 

That is great to hear! Thank you so much!

[RandomName33 0]

1 hour ago, Volli said:

Follow the link I included in my previous post. The timeline there was very accurate and it only took a couple of weeks (not months) from all submitted to DQ'd.

How soon after you got DQ did you get your interview? Do you get to pick from multiple dates?

[appleblossom 2,482]

5 minutes ago, RandomName33 said:

How soon after you got DQ did you get your interview? Do you get to pick from multiple dates?

That will depend on the consulate. Some are only 3 months or so from DQ to interview date, others are 2 years or more. Is yours Germany or somewhere else?

 

And no, you just get given a date. You can reschedule, but would potentially have to wait much longer for a new date, so it's not a good idea unless you really have to.

Edited June 18, 2023 by appleblossom

[RandomName33 0]

15 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

That will depend on the consulate. Some are only 3 months or so from DQ to interview date, others are 2 years or more. Is yours Germany or somewhere else?

 

And no, you just get given a date. You can reschedule, but would potentially have to wait much longer for a new date, so it's not a good idea unless you really have to.

Germany also (Frankfurt). I've read on reddit, that you usually get your interview within two months for this specific embassy.

[Volli 31]

2 hours ago, RandomName33 said:

How soon after you got DQ did you get your interview? Do you get to pick from multiple dates?

About 10 weeks from DQ to interview (Frankfurt consulate) and just one date.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Volli