Is it possible to take the medical exam before you have your initial I-130 interview? I ask because of timing we would like to take care of medical exam in the morning since we could only get an afternoon interview. (We live in Nagoya so a day trip is preferable to 2 days off work).

Thanks for any input.

PS for others that find this post, the Japanese discussion boards suggest that the International Catholic Hospital is more "friendly" in the exam than the other options. We have no personal experience yet to evaluate this claim.

Hi there. I don't know how it is for your country, but typically you do have your medical exam before you have your interview. I think I have read somewhere before that it is possible to even have your medical exam the day of the interview, just before it. Hopefully someone will come along and help you that is familiar with Japan. Good Luck!!!

LJ

Hi takoyaki, yes, you can. My I-130 appointment was at 2:00 pm, and my wife went to the British Clinic in the morning and was done in 30 minutes. Then we met up to go to the embassy together. There's no rule when you can or can't have the exam. The results are good for 1 year.

Among the Japanese in the discussion board that my wife is in, the British Clinic is the most recommended. They only require 4 vaccinations, (measles, rubella, chicken pox, mumps) but the other clinics may require more. The phone receptionist there has a reputation for being kind of mean, but the rest of the staff is nice.

Have your wife call and find out what is needed.

Thanks a lot for the info! We will schedule the exam in the morning before the I-130 appointment. Good news about the British Clinic.

What is the Japanese board that you have been checking? The more information the better I figure. I will also post the site that we are using once I get home from work.

Cheers

Also, the vaccinations at the clinic are expensive (¥8,000 each). Your wife should be prepared in advance. My wife had a blood test to find out what vaccs are in her immune system, and then got vaccinated at our local clinic for much cheaper. Then she took the papers from the local clinic to the British Clinic as evidence so that she didn't need to get the shots from there. The clinic has the information on it's website. They can send the results by takyubin so you don't have to make an extra trip, or you can pick it up on the day of your second interview at the embassy.

http://www.tokyobritishclinic.com/visa_us-j.html

This site's time limit on when you can edit posts is annoying......

Here's the English link to the British Clinic....

http://www.tokyobritishclinic.com/visa_us-e.html

Also, they take cash only.

Thanks for the tips! This is great to know.