Springy6

After what has seemed like a long 8 months of document gathering (and spending hours on BE), hubby's EB1a petition was approved today! Lots of American beer and wine being drunk in our house tonight.

Can anyone give me realistic timescales from this stage onwards? Are the medicals 'difficult'? Are there any other areas that might 'trip' us up?

Lilly77

No idea on your other questions (we are still in the waiting game for visa phase)

BUT CONGRATULATIONS!!!

lizzyq

Congratulations - I know you must feel relieved & happy now! My DH had his O-1A petition approved this week so we are celebrating too.

Hope the medicals etc go smoothly for you all.

GeoffM

Congratulations! Join the (small) club.

It can take around a month for your docs to arrive at NVC. The NVC part can be fairly quick if you have documents ready, ways to pay, etc. Then you'll get an interview date in London and do the medical (maybe the latter comes before you get a date, I forget). My blog is in the sidebar here for a timeline 2 years ago but bear in mind that I was not rushing too much.

Make sure you get spare passport size photos (the US size, not the UK ones) just in case they ask during the interview.

Springy6

Thanks Geoff - I've read your blog many times over the months! Thankfully we didn't get a RFE.

Like you, we actually don't want to rush things through - are we able to control the timescales a bit more ourselves?

Guindalf

Not really.

Where it may be possible to change a date here and there, ultimately you don't control the timelines, they control you!!

S Folinsky

Congratulations.

Your lawyer should be able to give you some time estimates. However, it bears remembering the old internet acronym of "YMMV."

The medicals are usually a non-issue. That said, any history of alcohol related arrests?? [note, I did not say "conviction."] An active infectious chronic disease can be problematical -- usually AIDS or TB.

I hope you are not one of those opposed to vaccinations. It is a good idea to gather up your records of jabs if you have them. [Many people have that little yellow card issued by the WHO. I lost mine years ago after I left the Army, but I digress]. Be prepared to be a pin cushion. It may be cheaper to get your jabs in advance rather than waiting until the medical.

If any of you have had encounters with law enforcement or the criminal courts, inquire about what records you will need.

I will say that for 95% of applicants, it is downhill jog after approval of the visa petition.

Good luck.

Springy6

Had to google what the acronym meant!

No infectious diseases that we know of or any police issues. Have been reading up on the vaccinations - think they are mainly covered apart from tetanus as our GP keeps saying they are no longer needed as an adult.

Thanks everyone for all you help.

sir_eccles

Tetanus is often bundled with a pertussis shot which is well worth getting as pertussis (whooping cough) is becoming endemic in parts of the US. No harm in getting a tetanus booster at the same time.

GeoffM

Well, you can, within limits. You have X number of days to reply to the NVC requests; you can re-arrange your interview (no sure how much further away in time though); you can push back the medical. Finally, you then have up to 6 (?) months to enter the US and use your visa. I think that's dated from the medical, not from the interview.

Our petition was approved in April and we didn't arrive into the US until the following April.

S Folinsky

Unfortunately, the US Centers For Disease Control disagree with your GP. Here is their chart on adult vaccination recommendations.

One gets a one time "DTaP" and then a "Dt" booster every 10 years. I'm of an age where the need for the Dt boosters had been eliminated and since has been brought back. [BTW, the Dt has an unpleasant side effect of a day of some muscle pain. I was warned so it a couple of aspirin did the trick. {as an aside, Bayer lost the trademark to "aspirin" in the US long ago}].