cluelessincalifornia

Hi all

Ok i'll admit this now this is going to be long and complicated but i'll do my best to keep it to the point. Thankfully most of you will not have experienced what my husband and I are going through, but I'm just hoping I may get some advice on what to do next anyway....here goes:

Husband won greencard lottery in July 2011, so me, him and 3 kids went for our medical at Knightsbridge drs on Oct 13th. As husband had suffered from TB in 2010 (he had NHS treatment and was discharged in Aug 2010) we brought along all the paperwork to the medical. Mine and kids medical went thru fine, but my husband was ordered to have 3 tb cultures done because they found a scar on his lungs suggestive of tb, we were expecting this so he complied and we waited to get results in the new year 2012. (we also had a consular interview on 26th october btw) So we get a phone call on 3rd Jan stating out of the 3 cultures, 1 is negative, 1 is contaminated and 1 was basically screwed up due to human error and would have to be repeated. AGain my husband went down to London to comply (we live a 2 hour train journey away btw!) and we waited another 8 weeks for results. Plus the contaminated culture also had to be investigated and it took until mid March to establish it was just contamination and not a disease. Finally mid March our medicals were released to Embassy. So we get an email from Embassy last week advising us how to courier over our passports BUT that my husband also had to get another cleared medical report as the first one had just expired! (mine and kids hadn't expired because we had no issues) We were confused as to why another was needed so we phoned drs who told that the Embassy want the medical to be valid for at least a further 3 months
when they issue the visa.....so then they must have known when they sent the medicals in mid march that we were already out time? No they claim they didn't know this fact and only know it now because of my husbands unique case........Is it just me or shouldn't they have known such a vital fact as that? If they did know that then by mid January we should have just abondoned the medical and started afresh but instead because of their ignorance we have just wasted the last 3 months. Anyway they ask that my husband come down again to London for another medical, he complied and went earlier this week (he paid for the train journey and another medical fee!!) We thought that was the end.....but no yesterday they ordered he have another 3 tb cultures done, that means another 8 week wait and another 2 night stay in london because the sputum samples have to be given over 3 consecutive days. We really can't believe this decision, the drs claim that their hands are tied because my husbands chest xray the other day still showed up a lung scar which is suggestive of tb therefore they must order more tb culutres. But my argument is that he has had extensive tests already and no tb was found, he has no symptoms of tb and he has put weight on since last Ocotber another clear sign he doesn't have tb.

We really don't know what to do. Have we just been extremely unlucky here or are the drs being too bureaucratic?

If you are still reading this then thankyou for your patience!.....If you can offer any advice or words of encouragement I would really appreciate it ...thank you so much

ian-mstm

Quite simply, it's not their job to know!


Respectfully, there are - literally - thousands of people who would kill to be in your shoes. Perhaps some perspective is appropriate.


Yes, you do... you just don't want to follow that route. Here it is in a nutshell: if you want the visa, you will jump through the hoops.


You should do what you need to do to get the visa... whether you like it or not; whether you think it's fair or not; and whether you believe it's too bureaucratic or not.

Does it suck? Yes. Have mistakes been made? Possibly? Will stamping your feet help? No.

Ian

GeoffM

You don't appear to have noticed that they're going around in circles and getting nowhere. Posts like that do not help in such circumstances.

Just to add more to your worries, your medical results need to be unexpired when you enter the US. That means, even if your visa is issued for a 6 month entry but the medical is only valid for another month, then you have to enter within that month. Good luck - hopefully you'll get out of this loop somehow!

Jscl

Sounds very frustrating. I guess they don't see many cases of TB so your case is pretty unique.

While waiting I would get as much info as you can on when your medicals expire, as well as your husband's new one. Better to be prepared and pay twice than miss out completely.

Like someone above said though, you are in an extremely fortunate position to be where you are, so even with hiccups in the process like this, the whole thing might seem less stressful if you keep thinking positive!

ian-mstm

I believe my third set of comments addressed that issue. You don't appear to have noticed that.

Ian

GeoffM

You believe incorrectly. Your comments were as useful as a chocolate teapot. My observations therefore remain valid. You have a lot of experience and useful input on this forum but this was sadly not one of those occasions. Now, if you could suggest a way that they get out of this closed circle then I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

cluelessincalifornia

Ian - I guess your're are right, ultimately we just have to get on with it if we want those visas

Geoff - Thanks for that info, again we only discovered it ourselves last week that the medical must still be valid when you enter the US, the "6 month" visa is quite misleading really, but we know now and we'll make sure we don't fall foul of that rule

Jscl - Yes we must remain positive which we will from now on!


Thanks for replying everyone