General Help Needed in SA

[KCPT 0]

Hi there. I'm hoping someone will be able to answer my questions. 

 

Background: we applied for the K1 visa in August 2024 and USCIS approved our petition in January 2025. USCIS sent our application to NVC and we're currently waiting for NVC to get back to us. 

 

I know that a police clearance certificate is needed for the embassy interview stage, can anyone from South Africa who is currently going through this process please advise how long it takes to receive the police clearance certificate. 

 

Also, will the interview be conducted at the embassy in Pretoria or will it be done at the consulate in my city (Cape Town)

 

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

 

Much appreciated!

[OldUser 8,066]

11 hours ago, KCPT said:

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

 

Much appreciated!

Typically, Civil Surgeon will decide which vaccinations are required to complete DS-3025. In many cases missing vaccines will be administered at your medical exam appointment. You can call Civil Surgeon and discuss it.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[Lee Thacket 70]

On 2/27/2025 at 2:09 AM, KCPT said:

Hi there. I'm hoping someone will be able to answer my questions. 

 

Background: we applied for the K1 visa in August 2024 and USCIS approved our petition in January 2025. USCIS sent our application to NVC and we're currently waiting for NVC to get back to us. 

 

I know that a police clearance certificate is needed for the embassy interview stage, can anyone from South Africa who is currently going through this process please advise how long it takes to receive the police clearance certificate. 

 

Also, will the interview be conducted at the embassy in Pretoria or will it be done at the consulate in my city (Cape Town)

 

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

 

Much appreciated!

 

First thing with regard to vaccinations get an immunisation report from your doctor to check what is recorded in your medical records.

 

Unfortunately, my doctor had no record of my ever having had any childhood vaccinations.  

 

I was directed to have MMR, Tdap, Hepatitis B and varicella. The last one is waived if you have had a chickenpox. A number of other vaccines were deemed not to be age appropriate for me.

 

As @OldUser says once you have your immunisation record contact the panel physician. They often offer you missing vaccines on the day of your appointment, but that will probably be more expensive than getting them from your own doctor.

[KCPT 0]

On 2/27/2025 at 9:38 PM, OldUser said:

Typically, Civil Surgeon will decide which vaccinations are required to complete DS-3025. In many cases missing vaccines will be administered at your medical exam appointment. You can call Civil Surgeon and discuss it.

Thank you so much! Much appreciated. 

9 hours ago, Lee Thacket said:

 

First thing with regard to vaccinations get an immunisation report from your doctor to check what is recorded in your medical records.

 

Unfortunately, my doctor had no record of my ever having had any childhood vaccinations.  

 

I was directed to have MMR, Tdap, Hepatitis B and varicella. The last one is waived if you have had a chickenpox. A number of other vaccines were deemed not to be age appropriate for me.

 

As @OldUser says once you have your immunisation record contact the panel physician. They often offer you missing vaccines on the day of your appointment, but that will probably be more expensive than getting them from your own doctor.

Thank you for answering! I really appreciate it.

[hplusj 181]

On 2/27/2025 at 2:09 AM, KCPT said:

I know that a police clearance certificate is needed for the embassy interview stage, can anyone from South Africa who is currently going through this process please advise how long it takes to receive the police clearance certificate. 

 

Also, will the interview be conducted at the embassy in Pretoria or will it be done at the consulate in my city (Cape Town)

 

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

1) my now-husband worked with Docassist to get a quote based on a variety of expedited timeframes for the PCC.  I won't give you our quote because it may have changed given current workloads, but worth looking into.  Suffice to say he was able to get his PCC in something like 3 weeks.

 

2) It'll be in Joberg, but you can do your medical in Cape Town.  Look up Dr. Marcus Brauer, he's the civil surgeon you need to see in the Cape.  Since we did the process last summer the trend has been that your medical needs to be 3+ weeks out from the interview in order for it to pass administrative processing.  Even then, it's no guarantee.  Luckily if you poke the embassy a bit after the interview they will connect the dots and bring the medical documentation to the surface.

 

3) Brauer's got you covered.  Just schedule your medical once you have heard that your case shipped out of the NVC to Joberg.  If you have prior vaccination records, bring them, but honestly you can take care of them all in one appointment.  Now-husband didn't have any prior records, and we got it done.

 

Any further questions about the K1 process from ZA, feel free to reach out <3  Also, get that timeline started, it helps the community by contributing current data!

Edited yesterday at 04:36 AM by hplusj