We only have five weeks until the interview and I am not sure when the package will arrive in the mail - so I would like to be prepared for the medical exam sooner rather than later.

Can someone please clarify the following?

1. Can the check up be done only by a Consulate-registered physician (i.e. from the list of doctors they give on the website) or any doctor?

2. What is a panel physician?

3. Exactly what tests are needed for the check up? Will the doctor know this or do we have to tell them?

Thanks!

It has to be Consulate approved docotors and you will need to give them your NVC case number too. Check out the Embassy info on the top of the website here. It has only a few different Doctors in select states. Also you can take a look at the list of vaccines on travelstate.gov , many of them you should already have and if you dont have a vaccine record from your normal doctor then you can do a blood test that shows what immunities are in your body. You can email the DR nearest you to ask them what their cost are and what vaccines will be required for your age group that are not given in Brazil. Few things that must be done at the consulate DR is the X-ray, HIV, and syphilis test. For most of the other things a vaccine record will work for the consulate Dr. We have found the consulate Dr's assistants to be very knowledgable about many things and they can give you a much better idea of what is going to happen and almost the exact cost. Since you can only use those approved Dr's no need to tell them anything, its pretty much all they do.

Also my wife will use the one in Rio because I think that there are only 4 or 5 DRs in the country that do these test and there is not one in her state of Para so she would need to catch a plane to one anyway. Rio also has the cheapest HPV vaccine which all women between 16-26 are required to have now.

http://brasilia.usembassy.gov/pdfs/InstrExmMed_rev2007.pdf

Thanks for the info, very helpful. We are in João Pessoa, so I think we will go down to Recife - a bit of a trek but I want to make sure everything is done with enough time before the interview.

I am little concerned about not getting the package from the Consulate since there is a post office strike now (I think in all of Brazil). Do you know if we get fingerprinting done before the interview or at the Consulate?

Thanks again for your help!