gnasher12

So I got up early, and left for my appointment.

First mistake was getting off at Knightsbridge Tube Station, there is a private clinic there, but it's not the right one. so back on the tube I got, and made my way to Bond Street.

Handed over my passport, 1 x photo, vaccination records, medical questionnaire to the receptionist. She photocopied my passport, and handed it back. she asked for my police report, i bought the original and a copy, gave her the copy because she was going to make one anyway. she never asked for my letter from the embassy, which I was told they needed.

she then gave me another questionaire to fill, this one would be sent to the embassy, same questions as the other one, similar, then i handed this back to the receptionist.

Then i was called to a room, and the woman told me i needed a tetenus, and MMR booster, I have had MMR once, and booster of measeles, and rubella, so only really need the mumps, but mumps jab does not get injected on its own, so i need a 2nd MMR.
she then asked if i had mumps before, i said i didn't know. she then said it would cost an extra £65 or something if i got them done there, or i can go to my GP and get them done there. she offered me a blood test to see if i was immune to mumps at an extra £150 so i wouldn't need the jab, i said no thanks. I decided to get my medical, and get my vaccines done at my GP as i am broke. she printed off a letter, wrote the vaccines i need, and i am making my appointment today. once i have seen my gp, i need to fax them the proof to Knightsbridge. once knightsbridge has it, she will finish filling in my medical form as complete one will be sent to the embassy, and one be posted to me.
she said keep hold of the posted copy as i will need it in the US as proof of my health & vaccines, for employment and general things, so keep this document safe! she asked if i has chicken pox, i said yes when i was a kid.

then i went into another room, was told to take my bra and top off, and put a robe on, i put my robe on backwards, the doctor found this funny. once i had put it correctly, haha I had my chest x-ray. which is interesting to see.
then you sit in a room, a bland, cold, white boring little room for ages.

then i was called to see another doctor, he asked me my history, weighed me, took my height, eye test, ear, checked blood pressure, then told me to lye down while he pushed my stomach, asked me if i had any stomach pain, or any scars, i said no. he took some blood, he said this will be sent off to test only for syphilis.

he said if everything is ok you won't hear from us, if there is a problem they will contact me by friday. in the meantime to get my vaccines and fax them a copy. I then was told to sit in the waiting room, then i was called to pay £210 and that was it.

Sorry if this is over detailed, my thoughts are i found it strange how they took my vaccination history as gospel, i mean it was printed on paper, from my GP.
I thought the medical is to determine what you need, from blood tests etc, but from what i see, if you don't have vaccination record, they will get you to have the necessary shots regardless? playing devils advocate, what's to stop me of re printing my vaccine record saying i have had all my vaccines, they would have looked at it, said all fine? very strange but still that was my day.

Now to book myself into my local GP for my vaccines.

gnasher12

To update, I went to my local GP after my medical told them what was going on, showed them the letter from Knightsbridge and a very rude nurse gave me my jabs. then she stamped my paper from knightsbridge to say I got my secound MMR booter and tetanus.

I then faxed this to knightsbridge, and called them and they emailed me to say they have it, and will be in touch if there is a problem.

I then received a copy of my medical/vaccination form in the post from knightsbridge, which is the same one they send to the embassy.

SimonJW

Thanks for the detailed review of the medical - got mine in a few weeks so good to know what to expect!

Did you have to pay for the MMR booster at your local GP or was it free on the NHS?

The Earl of Drumer

Huh! At my medical they said I needed to get a second MMR (as I had my first a couple of weeks before the medical) but filled in the form and said the embassy would get it by Friday, and just said to get the other MMR at my GP - nothing about faxxing to them, or retaining the form until it was done.

Edit: Ah, maybe this is because of different visa type too, actually. If you're already married and applying for a spouse visa then I guess it needs to all be done before you leave the UK, since you'll already be a permanent resident in the US . Still, it'd have been nice for them to offer that as an option for me too, haha.

britishspouse

I had to have an MMR too, chose my local GP. It was free. Should be at all GP's

gnasher12

No problem, no your local GP shouldn't charge you, they didn't with me.

well i had all my shots when i was a child, for some reason only had one mumps shot, i mean that is all that was written on my vaccination record, i only really need mumps, but that doesn't come as one shot, so had to get another MMR. and at knightsbridge they asked me if i ever had mumps, but i didn't know.unless you have vaccination records, even if you have had your shots, they will say you need them again. crazy. unless you wanna pay for blood tests to see what your imune too.

they said they wouldn't send my medical results to the embassy until i had my jabs, and i faxed them proof that i had it done, once they had all the info, they could finish filling out my medical form, then send one to the embassy and a copy to me by post. maybe this is because i am applying for a spouse immigrant visa, im not sure.

britishspouse

Yep. us spouses need to have more before we go, I believe fiancee's can have their remainder if they need any when they get there. As they have to have their full medical in USA it think too.

Same with me. They wouldnt send stuff to embassy until they had received fax from my doctors saying all was OK and I was up to date. Had the jab, it was faxed within 5 mins, called doctors in london and they said they received it, and doctor was right there and said everything was OK, it'd be at embassy that day

ljaw2002uk

A few months before my medical I printed off the list of vaccinations from the USCIS website and took it to my GP. He told me the ones that I should have, and what wasn't relevant to me. He arranged blood tests to show that I had chickenpox as a child and so didn't require the vaccine. All completely free, this meant that when I went for my medical I didn't need any shots at all!

LadyElysium

What time was your medical appt? I had mine that day too!

whitebear

Please can you tell me how long it took from appointment time to leaving? The way the trains operate these days, you have to book a ticket on a specific train if you don't want to get ripped off.

LadyElysium

I was there exactly one hour.

britishspouse

Just to chime in..


My appt was booked for 3:30pm. I arrive at about 2:45pm, saw the vaccination nurse at 3:00pm, X ray guy at about 3:45pm, and doctor at about 4:15pm, was out by 4:30pm.