Hello UK friends,

I know many of you are not here yet, but I wish I had known, because I would have taken this form to the medical in London to see if they would fill it out then. That said, I don't know if they will but it would have alleviated a lot of hassle. At the very least I wish I had known it was part of the AOS, because I woulde have jumped on it sooner and saved some money, so I thought I would share/rant and hopefully help others!!!

the good news is we mailed the AOS stuff all off yesterday March 4th. On one hand I am so relieved to have it gone and on the other.....Oh God please let everything be right!!!! Wish us luck I pulled my hair out in frustration and curses enough to make a pirate blush, but we did it!

I also just want to share another bit of experience that came as a total and expensive surprise.....apparently there is a little form called the I-693A which is ANOTHER vaccine form that came as a total shock to me. So you have to take all your vaccine records to an appointed 'civil surgeon' (listed is on the USCIS website) in your local area - and have a doc locally look them over and fill out the form for you to mail off with AOS. this lovely experience cost us another $75.00 for the office visit. I was so stunned angry and frustrated there are not words. I mean we paid 200 pounds for the medical already, he had 2 visits with his GP and got many stabs before the medical even happened to be sure we had all the necessary vaccines, we were APPROVED for heaven's sake, his medical record (is in the brown mysterious POE envelope) was submitted at POE and is now on file with USCIS and I STILL have to track down some random doctor to pay more money to have it documented again???? somebody has got to fix this BS process.....just have to note that as the USC I have totally changed my views on immigration in general!

okay so aside from my rant, I just want to pass the experience along to others because it blind-sided us and delayed our paperwork. I did post many q's in the AOS forum about it and it turns out that some people do go ahead file AOS without this form, just assuming that USCIS will match up the files (some get thru and some get RFE's - I am not willing to risk the RFE), and others are able to send there forms/vaccine records to a doc in Texas who will sign the form and mail it back to you for like $20.00 plus shipping, so much cheaper. I just wanted it over with so we sucked it up and paid sad.gif

Oh, and as another side note - the "doctor' office" that are listed as an official "civil surgeoun" for USCIS was perhaps the scariest, most back woods, I-can't-believe-this-is-a-bonafied-health-care-professional kind of place I have ever seen! My husband was like "please tell this is not what doctor's offices are like in America!!!" huh.gif Seriously, it was in this scary part of town, run down building next to a junk yard, he is an acupuncturist/GP(??), the office was crowded with random stuff and tiny, the receptionist had an ancient type typewriter piled on a stack of books she used to fill out our form, there were viles of blood just sitting in a box on her desk, all these notices from USCIS from the mid-1990's posted everywhere and then signs that this office is not equipped to help the disabled! - like a seen from a bad comedy! but whatever, we have a bizarre story and we got it done.

Good Luck to everyone on their continued journeys!

Sara

There's a civil surgeon that many of us on VJ have used that will put your vaccine information on the I 693A for $10 (maybe $15 now) - he'll do it by mail if you're not local to him. It is Dr. L.E. Arnold in Austin, TX.

And yes, you have to be careful about this with local civil surgeons; they all like making some extra $ by charging you an outrageous amount for the I 693A, or by trying to say you need the full medical again.

All of this is discussed a lot in the AOS forum - sorry you didn't see it before hand!

Me too!!! I wish I had seen it earlier - just thought I would make it known to others headed that way as I did not really start reading the AOS forum until I was knee deep in AOS paperwork!

The doc in Texas now charges $20.00 plus shipping (if you want it back quickly) according to the AOS forum!

Good Luck to all

We managed to get away without the vaccination supplement - we included the form your in get in the medical (can't remember the name?) in the AOS packet and were fine. I knew we might get an RFE, but we were fine.

Ah ok - I knew it had gone up some. But that's still better than $75 (or someone trying to make you get a full medical!).

I last heard he was up to $20.

OMG what kind of doctor's office are they running?! I thought a doctors surgery in Hackney was bad! Very unprofessional and whatever happened to health and safety? Quote "blood just sitting in a box on her desk." deary me..

I'm sorry to hear the nasty and expensive surprise you endeavoured but alas you sent the AOS off yesterday and that's the main thing. You have definitely helped me with the info, thanks Sara. Everything will come back to you ten by fold I have faith Good luck with the outcome!!

Why does everyone think that an RFE is a bad thing... I sent in the AOS application only attaching the DS-3025 from the foreign medical anticipating that I might get an RFE that would cost about 2 weeks processing time. The amount of pain and agony people go through trying to avoid a 2-3 week delay just doesn't seem that important to me (let alone sometimes the cost associated). FWIW, I never received an RFE for the vaccination supplement.

I didn't consider using Dr. Arnold as 'pain and agony'.

But there are a he!!uva lot more stories than just you my friend.

I know that - all I'm saying is those of us who chose to use Dr. Arnold didn't cause themselves some sort of undue pain and agony.

We simply didn't want to risk an RFE; the fact that yours turned around quickly is just one story, too. As always, YMMV.

Hmmm ! I just sent in a copy of the form I got from my medical in London, saved on the $10 -$100, did not get an RFE either !

I guess it's all down to who deals with the case at the end of the day.