Medical Exam in Almaty

[ITBOB 30]

My mother-in-law will be having her interview at the Almaty Consulate for her IR-5 visa on 9-7-23. I had her call the IMC clinic to schedule her medical exam and they told her to schedule the apppointment on their website because their were some documents that needed to be uploaded to schedule. I went to their website and it says to email them the following documents:

 

1. The front page of your foreign passport (the one with the photo)
2. Invitation letter from the Consulate with the Case number
3. Current address with zip code (in English)
4. Address in the USA
5. Your Email address and cell phone number
6. Work/position, school/university/grade
7. City of birth
8. Information about change of citizenship if any
9. Covid 19 vaccination certificat

 

For those of you who have been through the medical exam can you tell me if this is what you did to schedule? My mother-in-law is on a IR-5 visa so I don't think she is required to have the Covid vaccination but I was not sure. Has everyone who has been through this exam scheduled from the website? I appreciate any information anyone can give me.

[Ineska 27]

2 hours ago, ITBOB said:

My mother-in-law will be having her interview at the Almaty Consulate for her IR-5 visa on 9-7-23. I had her call the IMC clinic to schedule her medical exam and they told her to schedule the apppointment on their website because their were some documents that needed to be uploaded to schedule. I went to their website and it says to email them the following documents:

 

1. The front page of your foreign passport (the one with the photo)
2. Invitation letter from the Consulate with the Case number
3. Current address with zip code (in English)
4. Address in the USA
5. Your Email address and cell phone number
6. Work/position, school/university/grade
7. City of birth
8. Information about change of citizenship if any
9. Covid 19 vaccination certificat

 

For those of you who have been through the medical exam can you tell me if this is what you did to schedule? My mother-in-law is on a IR-5 visa so I don't think she is required to have the Covid vaccination but I was not sure. Has everyone who has been through this exam scheduled from the website? I appreciate any information anyone can give me.

Hi ITBOB- I don’t have personal experience yet and still waiting for the IL, but I do remember reading lots of posts/hearing that things are constantly changing. Maybe it’s because a lot of Russian IR-5s are transfering to Almaty and the Consulate is trying to automate things with the Med center as well.

 

It  makes me think it’s a new process. Here are some other thing I heard about just in the past 90 days:

 

1. No more envelopes from the med exams, it’s now electronic

2. Med exam is no longer required 2 weeks before the interview, 6 days is good enough

3. Requests for moving cases from diff embassies was via email, now it’s a workflow approal, etc…

 

Re: covid vaccine, I heard they just need to show their Sputnik vaccine or CDC says Green Card holders are no longer required to have any kind of covid vaccine.

 

Good luck and hope it goes smoothly for you guys!  Please keep us posted.

 

Hey on another note, do you remember how long it took for the IL once you got the DQ date? 

 

 

[ITBOB 30]

My mother-in-law was DQ in September of last year and was assigned a visa interview in Warsaw for 10-25-2022. Poland closed the border to Russian citizens and after trying several other countries I requested her case be transfered to Almaty. The Almaty consulate accepted her case and asked me to schedule an appointment but she (mother-in-law) wanted to wait until September of this year for interview. The consulate in Almaty opened up the September callendar for appointments last week and I sceduled her appointment for September 7. I was told by several people that the Covid vaccine was not required for IR-5 (Parent of US Citizen) Visa's. I hope that is true because she will not take the Sputnik vaccine and she is a doctor. All of the postings about exams in Almaty that were done this year do not mention requiring a Covid vaccination so I am hoping things haven't changed. Thanks for the reply!

[Ineska 27]

11 minutes ago, ITBOB said:

My mother-in-law was DQ in September of last year and was assigned a visa interview in Warsaw for 10-25-2022. Poland closed the border to Russian citizens and after trying several other countries I requested her case be transfered to Almaty. The Almaty consulate accepted her case and asked me to schedule an appointment but she (mother-in-law) wanted to wait until September of this year for interview. The consulate in Almaty opened up the September callendar for appointments last week and I sceduled her appointment for September 7. I was told by several people that the Covid vaccine was not required for IR-5 (Parent of US Citizen) Visa's. I hope that is true because she will not take the Sputnik vaccine and she is a doctor. All of the postings about exams in Almaty that were done this year do not mention requiring a Covid vaccination so I am hoping things haven't changed. Thanks for the reply!

Thank you for the reply! Did you say you had to schedule the apt yourself for your MIL? I thought NVC does that. Would you mind sharing the link for scheduling apt? Everything I see is only for non-immigrant visas. Thank you again! 

[ITBOB 30]

Yes, when I contacted Almaty and requested that they take over her case because of the situation in Poland they asked me to schedule her appointment. You are correct that NVC normally does the appointment schedule and they had originally assigned her a date in Warsaw. Maybe because I requested a transfer directly from the Almaty Consulate after NVC had already scheduled her appointment in Warsaw is the reason I was asked to schedule my own appointment. You have to register a profile on TravelDocs

(https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/ApplicantHome) and once I was registered you can schedule the appointment on that website. I think NVC is now assigning Almaty to all Russian IR-5 interviews so you might not be able to schedule it yourself. Let me know if I can help in any way.

[Ineska 27]

3 minutes ago, ITBOB said:

Yes, when I contacted Almaty and requested that they take over her case because of the situation in Poland they asked me to schedule her appointment. You are correct that NVC normally does the appointment schedule and they had originally assigned her a date in Warsaw. Maybe because I requested a transfer directly from the Almaty Consulate after NVC had already scheduled her appointment in Warsaw is the reason I was asked to schedule my own appointment. You have to register a profile on TravelDocs

(https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/ApplicantHome) and once I was registered you can schedule the appointment on that website. I think NVC is now assigning Almaty to all Russian IR-5 interviews so you might not be able to schedule it yourself. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Thank you! I did look also. Over a year ago I tried to register my parents for a b1/b2 visa with Almaty, Frankfurt, Erevan and still have active accounts, but it told me I cant schedule the IR-5 apt since NVC / consulate didnt tell me to and need to wait for the NVC letter.
 

Hey on another note, how did you figure out where to register for the passport pick up after the interview? All the links are broken and the addresses for the pick up locations are no longer there. 
 

Thank you again and good luck!

[ITBOB 30]

Inside the TravelDocs portal where I scheduled my MIL appointment there is a page where you specify where you want document delivery to. For Almaty there is only two options. If you specify "Pick Up" there is only one selection and that is a DHL office in Almaty. You can specify "Premium Delivery" and you can enter an address where you want DHL to deliver to. I have specified pickup at the DHS office in Almaty. There was no links on the portal just a web page devoted to document delivery. Both options have a small fee. Hope that helps!

[Ineska 27]

51 minutes ago, ITBOB said:

Inside the TravelDocs portal where I scheduled my MIL appointment there is a page where you specify where you want document delivery to. For Almaty there is only two options. If you specify "Pick Up" there is only one selection and that is a DHL office in Almaty. You can specify "Premium Delivery" and you can enter an address where you want DHL to deliver to. I have specified pickup at the DHS office in Almaty. There was no links on the portal just a web page devoted to document delivery. Both options have a small fee. Hope that helps!

Thanks again! I think I need to wait for the NVC to schedule the interview first. Right now it still has the info for  the non-immigrant visa pick up in Nur-Sultan. Thank you again!

[powerpuff 6,682]

~~ Related duplicate thread removed. Please do not start multiple threads asking similar or related questions. Keep all discussion in one thread ~~
 

1 hour ago, ITBOB said:

My mother in law is scheduled for her IR-5 visa interview in Almaty on September 7, 2023. I remember reading this summer that Covid vaccines were not required for IR-5 visas. My mother-in-law called the medical clinic in Almaty where the exams are given to schedule an appointment and they told her that Covid vaccines are now a requirement for the exam. Did the CDC change there mind again? She is in Russia and the Sputnik vaccine is not approved by the WHO so how can she get vaccinated to meet this requirement. Is there still a blanket waiver for "Vaccine unavailable". Any information that anyone can give me would be appreciated.

CDC did not change anything in regards to the COVID vaccine requirement for immigrant visa medical exams. COVID vaccines are a requirement for immigrant visa applicants.

 

Pfizer vaccines are available in Almaty.

8 hours ago, Ineska said:

CDC says Green Card holders are no longer required to have any kind of covid vaccine.

Immigrant visa applicants are not green card holders. They become GC holders once they present their IR5 visa to a CBP agent at a POE. In order to get IR5 visa or any other immigrant visa, they need to clear the medical exam which requires a COVID vaccine.

 

Those who already became GC holders before the vaccine requirement went into effect do not need to get vaccinated to enter the US. Entry to the US and medical exams for immigrant visa applicants are different things.

 

[ITBOB 30]

The problem is that even if she was to get the Pfizer vaccine in Almaty, there is not enough time before the interview for both doses. We had already arranged hotel accomodations and airline flights for this trip and this throws a wrench into those plans. I will have to see if we can reschedule the interview for another time and reschedule hotels and airlines to a later date.

[powerpuff 6,682]

6 hours ago, ITBOB said:

The problem is that even if she was to get the Pfizer vaccine in Almaty, there is not enough time before the interview for both doses. We had already arranged hotel accomodations and airline flights for this trip and this throws a wrench into those plans. I will have to see if we can reschedule the interview for another time and reschedule hotels and airlines to a later date.

You do not need both doses. Just the first dose. 
 

Do not reschedule the interview.

 

“

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement

• Continue to focus on the primary series at this time. Applicants who are due for the first, second or third dose of a primary series should receive the one dose for which they are due, but should no longer be delayed to complete the entire series before completing the exam. Applicants who have completed a primary COVID-19 series prior to the exam require no additional COVID-19 doses for immigration.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/panel-physicians/vaccinations.html#covid-19-vaccination

[ITBOB 30]

Thanks for the reply. I had read the same thing that you sent me the link for, and was hopeful that it was true. It says the same thing on the IMC webpage: "Applicants for immigrant visas must now be vaccinated at least one dose against Covid-19 in order to immigrate to the United States. The vaccines accepted for immigrants are those approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use, or those which are licensed or approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Please visit the WHO website for more information." (https://imcalmaty.kz/en/immigration) Later on down the same page it says: 

 

Do I need to have both doses before my medical exam?

 

- Yes. The vaccination process against COVID-19 must be completed before the medical examination. For most COVID-19 vaccines, this means you will need to have 2 doses complete before your exam.

 

Not sure which statement to believe. My mother-in-law was going to call the clinic today and try to clarify what is needed, but I won't hear from her until tomorrow. I will post what I find out. Thanks again for the info!

 

 

 

 

[powerpuff 6,682]

It’s possible they didn’t update their page correctly. Have your MIL print out and highlight the CDC page I linked and bring it with her on the day of the medical; this is what the panel physician must follow. Keep us posted, best of luck 

[Ineska 27]

Hey Guys just got an email with interview apt date for Oct 24!

 

Would you mind letting me know how /where did you register for the passport with visa pick after the interview? I see in the pre-interview check list that I need to register for it but there is no info where/how to do it for Almaty.

[Ineska 27]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:39 AM, ITBOB said:

My mother-in-law will be having her interview at the Almaty Consulate for her IR-5 visa on 9-7-23. I had her call the IMC clinic to schedule her medical exam and they told her to schedule the apppointment on their website because their were some documents that needed to be uploaded to schedule. I went to their website and it says to email them the following documents:

 

1. The front page of your foreign passport (the one with the photo)
2. Invitation letter from the Consulate with the Case number
3. Current address with zip code (in English)
4. Address in the USA
5. Your Email address and cell phone number
6. Work/position, school/university/grade
7. City of birth
8. Information about change of citizenship if any
9. Covid 19 vaccination certificat

 

For those of you who have been through the medical exam can you tell me if this is what you did to schedule? My mother-in-law is on a IR-5 visa so I don't think she is required to have the Covid vaccination but I was not sure. Has everyone who has been through this exam scheduled from the website? I appreciate any information anyone can give me.

Hey ITBOB,

 

I just scheduled an apt for my mom, via email and per directions you have above. Were you able to schedule it? I also asked them about covid vaccines and they told me for Russian citizens they dont require them.