MrsMacIver

Hey there all,

New here. I'm a USC and my hubby is a UKC. He's living in Scotland right now, and I'm here in the USA.

I submitted the I-130 and it was accepted, and paid the affidavit of support and application fees. Now I have the 864 EZ and the DS-230 done, but we haven't sent them in since we're still waiting for his police cert to be returned. Once that comes in, I plan to send everything together.

How long does it take to get an interview appointment? My hubby needs to do the Medical Exam, and I'm curious as to whether he should wait until he has the interview date and schedule it around then so he only has to make one trip to London. Or should he just get one ASAP so we will have it out of the way?

I'm so confused by all the dates and timelines...realistically, when am I going to get to see my husband again???

Noorah101

He can't schedule a medical appointment until he has an LND case number from NVC. Also not a good idea to schedule a medical appointment too far ahead...best to wait until the case gets to London...otherwise London has no way of matching up his medical results with his case file (if the case file is still at NVC).

He will need to make 2 trips to London. He will go there to get the medical done. London won't schedule an interview until they have received the medical results from the doctor, and a typical wait time for an interview date is about 4 to 6 weeks. So he'll make a second trip to London when he knows his interview date.

By the way, he'll need to bring a photocopy of his police report to his medical exam.

You are allowed to visit each other while the process is going on, so if one or the other of you can buy a ticket today, you could potentially see each other tomorrow!

Otherwise, if you're waiting for the whole Immigrant Visa process to be done, count about 8 to 10 months from the time you submitted the I-130, and that's about when he'll be immigrating.

Rene

MrsMacIver

We have a case number that starts with LND, does that mean we can make the medical appt? We are trying to save money, though we have a bunch saved, and would like to try to keep the travel costs down.

I figured we could make the medical appt for the afternoon of or day after his interview. We understand it will slow down the process, but by how much, and is this feasible given how busy the Knightsbridge is? He lives on the Isle of Lewis, so travel is expensive. He can always take the train back up to Glasgow and stay with his brother in order to save on lodging if he needs to, assuming the medical exam and interview are a few days apart.


I'm not very worried about the interview itself, or the 864EZ or DS-230. We have the original birth certificates (both of us) and passports, marriage certificates (we were married in NYC) and all my tax data ( I make more than enough to support us both, something we have tested by having me live with no financial support from him since he is saving all of his income.) I am making copies of everything for him to bring to the interview. Should I throw in some wedding photos (we had celebrations in the US and the UK) for good measure? Maybe a newspaper announcement from our wedding? I was originally going to go there, but was denied entry because we missed some of the paperwork....should I give him a copy to show this is a real marriage and not just a ploy to get him a green card?

Anything else I should know, or include, or are we in pretty good shape?

Noorah101

If he has an LND number, he is able to book his medical appointment, yes. But keep in mind that the doctor sends the results to the embassy automatically, and if the embassy receives the results and his case is not there yet...well, who knows? They might match things up at a later date, they might not.

This plan is impossible to do, because the embassy won't book his interview appointment until they receive the medical results. It takes about 4 days for the medical results to reach the embassy. His case file must also be there in order to book the interview. The interview date is typically NOT for the next day or a couple of days later...it's for several weeks in the future...4 to 6 to 8 weeks.

The medical exam and the interview are likely to be 4 to 8 weeks apart.

Instead of proof that you got married (such as photos and wedding announcement), you could include anything that shows you have comingled your lifes together since you got married. If you don't have anything like that (as most newlyweds don't), then don't bother sending anything.

Rene

Noorah101

Mrs MacIver,

Since you are running into a specific problem, I moved your thread out of the lengthy "timeline" thread and created a new thread just for your questions and dilemma.

Rene
Moderator

MrsMacIver

Just to clarify for anyone who may read this thread as a means to answer their own questions:


-We received an interview date before we made the medical appointment.



-We inquired with the embassy, and due to the fact that my husband is from the Western Isles, and two trips to London would be a financial burden, we were allowed to schedule my hubby's medical exam for the day before his interview. They were very accommodating, and gave us no difficulty with this request.

The embassy told us that my husband will need to leave his passport with them after the interview, and once his medical clearance papers have been received, they will stamp the passport appropriately and send it to him. This should not delay the process much, and we should have the passport within 2 weeks after the interview.


Hope this helps anyone who might read this!

jeffreyhy

You submitted your I-130 petition to USCIS in the USA, and your husband submitted his visa application via the NVC, yes?

In this circumstance it is not required to have the medical exam before the interview is scheduled. That's a local requirement if the consular section in London schedules the interview. The medical exam report is not one of the supporting documents that the NVC collects, and it's the NVC that schedules the interview when the petition was submitted to USCIS in the USA.

On this issue of the medical exam prior to interview scheduling, which is unique to the consular section in London, it's important to specify where the petition was submitted.

Regards, JEff