K1 Visa Medical Exam with Dr. Cheema (Surrey, BC) REVIEW

[mariagomez 17]

Leaving a review of my experience to hopefully help others after me!

 

Medical Exam date: April 18, 2024 @ 9:00am 

Cost: $355 for my age range, plus $50 for a TDAP booster & $47 for tracked courier delivery of some documents to my house 

 

Booking the appointment:
I emailed the office directly after received my packet 4 email with all the documents they require, you can find this information on their website, make sure you’ve received your packet 4 email first and that you’ve booked an interview appointment as they will ask for confirmation for both. They responded to me immediately and I was able to book my appointment for about a month away from that day. They respond very quickly and if you have any questions they’ll answer anything you need. 

 

Appointment day:
I flew in from Calgary really early and landed at 6:30am at the Vancouver airport, rented a car and drove down to Surrey. It only took about 30 min to get to the office from the airport, it was really easy and there was no traffic. I arrived around 7:45am, and decided to go in to ask some questions about my vaccines as I only had one dose of the Varicella and they ask for two. Since I was already there they actually told me they would take all my documents and start the process right away. They asked for my 5 passport photos, my passport, my drivers license, my covid vaccination records, as well as my other vaccination records. My records are all in spanish and I translated them on a google doc and printed that to bring, I showed them the original plus the translation and they took both to double check everything matched and make copies of everything. They gave me a form to fill and then returned all my documents afterwards, then they let me know I was actually missing a TDAP booster since it had been more than 10 years since my last dose, and I chose to get it there so I paid $50 for that. I sat down and waited a bit longer, then I got called in to the room. Dr. Cheema was really nice and went through the short list of questions really quickly, he listened to my lungs, took my blood pressure, then palpated my stomach, and finally gave me the TDAP booster before sending me on my way. I was finished by 8:45am, 15 min before my official appointment time, and then had to wait 15min after the vaccine before I could leave. The blood test is by appointment only and the office will make it for you and give you the time, the lab is right next to the office so you can walk there. I headed to my blood test appointment and I had to wait a bit as it was busy but I was out by 9:45. Then I drove down the road to the x-ray lab which is walk-in only, and despite being busy I was seen basically right away. I missed my turn into the parking lot so I wasted some time turning around, but I was finished with the whole process a few minutes before 11am. All in all it was really quick and easy.

Total time: around 3 hours and 15min. 

 

What I learned:

• Hepatitis A is not required. 
• Tdap is required within the last 10 years (I got it at the office)
• Varicella requires two doses, if you do not have both or records of both, you can get your family physician to get bloodwork done to test for immunity. If it is reactive, you are immune. An additional dose if needed at the office would have been $95.00 CAD, but if you’ve had chickenpox before you just need to tell them what year you had it, no proof necessary. 
• They provide you with a CD (for border crossing) and vaccination record (for AOS) by mail - you can choose courier (free and not tracked), or tracked courier (depends on where you live but I paid $47), they told me both of these are not required for the interview. 
• Once results are sent to the US embassy, you will receive an email stating so. 

[mam521 2,062]

It's probably good to note you'll be entering the US on a K1 visa.  Greencard holders aren't required to adjust status, so the process is a little bit different.  Don't want anyone to get confused and panic by reading AOS when it's not applicable .

 

Good luck with the rest of your journey!