August 2008 Filers

[Chuck and Grace 0]

I have a quick question (I hope).

I just got a new job (!!yay!) and I start on Monday (umm...). Problem is, we are SMACK dab in the middle of interview papers. ie. gathering proof of income, letter from employer etc.

My lawyer told me that I do not need a letter from current job, just from the new job. Reading previous posts....I'm nervous...Does it need to say how long I have worked at the new job? Because if we are trying to prove longevity, I dont think that will be too impressive.

Any ideas? suggestions?

Sarah,

I dont think it matters. You need to prove income, but that is done by your tax documents. New job? Big deal, people change jobs all the time. I think you can get through even without a job if you show you have assets.

Dont worry, I dont think you will have any problems. Just to be safe, if you have check stubs from old job, bring those too and letter from new employer. That shows consistantly working and your tax documents for last year should cover you also.

Congrats on the approval, maybe it'll finally start reigning down those vermont approvals now... course we could use a few more california approvals too but VSC is way over due for some serious action.

If my fiancee is lucky she is done with the medical or finishing up, I tried to call her to maybe give her some confidence or help her laugh a little because she's nervous about the medical (not about passing, she's just not looking forward to the whole disrobing part). I sent a few text's so hopefully that helped a little...

I'll probably give calling her another shot just before I go to bed, odds are she isn't that lucky and we expect it to take pretty much all day.

Maliciant, Did she need to get a lot of immunizations? My Fiance doesnt really have ANY records for past immunizations, so I think she will have to get them all. but I dont know if they do them all at once, or some and then require more later or how that works. Since your first, what can you tell me?

This waiting sucks!!!!

WE ARE APPROVED!!!!!! I was sad all day and then I get home tonight from work and check my box and what did I see a I-797 notice.....weird thing is....I never received any touches and it still states my status is pending.....notice date was January 15,2009........I'm speechless..........

Congratulations!

Edited January 22, 2009 by Chuck and Grace

[Chuck and Grace 0]

Well, she survived the dreaded day 1 of the medical, I always read they take your passport and thought it was on day 1 but they don't take it and keep it until day two. You find out if you passed on day 2 too it seems, though she's not so worried about that now.

There is two days of medical????

What all do they check on??? Do you know?

2nd day is the interview right? that is when they would keep the passport. But in philippines, EVERYTHING is slow - some call it relaxed, but any way you look at it, it is slow. SO 2 days of medical is possible.

[jazz_acid 5]

Hi folks,

God is indeed faithful~

I got my visa just on time! i got it today and tomorow im gonna go to CFO seminar and book my flight.

pls pray for me, im getting so sad! but well i have to leave my family and everything here for my fiance and baby.

thanks for all the advises and help and hope during my aos process, i can still confide in you...

God be with you all.

jazz

[I and S 0]

This waiting sucks!!!!

WE ARE APPROVED!!!!!! I was sad all day and then I get home tonight from work and check my box and what did I see a I-797 notice.....weird thing is....I never received any touches and it still states my status is pending.....notice date was January 15,2009........I'm speechless..........

Congrats!!! so happy for you. Your approval simply gives me hope too.

[I and S 0]

Hi folks,

God is indeed faithful~

I got my visa just on time! i got it today and tomorow im gonna go to CFO seminar and book my flight.

pls pray for me, im getting so sad! but well i have to leave my family and everything here for my fiance and baby.

thanks for all the advises and help and hope during my aos process, i can still confide in you...

God be with you all.

jazz

Good luck on your journey.

[Cuchita 1]

Congratz Rod and Lu!!!

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

(Boy I missed saying this)

There is hope for you guys just wait a bit!.

*****************************************************************************

JAZZ: You are going to be all right, just think of the new beautiful family you are going to raise.

Take care!

[Gemmie 142]

Congrats, Rod and Lu!

Congrats on your SO passing the medical Maliciant, or at least half of it!

[maliciant 7]

Chuck and Grace: The philippines has a reputation for being slow... but I can't knock it so far, compared to many other august filers I feel like the philippines is way ahead so far... of course that's primarily dependant on the embassy and that's got piles of americans possibly affecting the 'culture' of how things get run there... I don't know... I will say the way the system operates for getting various docs is different, and in some cases it seems unnecesarily slow, but in the end, it's probably pretty comparable to america for how long it takes to get various documents like birth certs and such.

About the medical... here is what I know. I believe the medical is always two days no matter the country, I don't know this for sure, so if someone knows better correct me... but the general way it works is the first day you basically get a physical, they do blood work to check for things like HIV/AIDS, you get to pee in a cup for a pregnancy test (I assume only the women do this), you get to get naked and be examined by a doctor, I am under the impression they can only examine by sight but this may be philippines specific (the sight only exam part... I'm sure everyone gets to disrobe for an inspection). They are looking for communicable diseases (of significant concern... something like HPV while bad, and may be noted in your medical if there are signs... is not considered a concern as it's already very common in the US anyway). They apparently have the testing facilities to check the blood work and everything on site, the second day you go back for two things, to get the results of the medical testing, and to get the actual immunizations. I think that's probably a standard procedure in all countries due to the need to do the testing... it's possible maybe richer countries will have more capable testing facilities that can do it all on one day, but I doubt it... more likely some places the second day of the medical could be scheduled a week later. If they have reason to do a culture test for TB for example, that takes a few weeks I guess, it's not routine to do it, just if some other test indicates a possible possitive, but obviously that's a pain if it happens.

They also look for scars, indications of attempted suicide can be an issue, if you have scars in a classic suicide attempt location like your wrists (especially if it's BOTH) then you can expect to have even more medical, as they'll require a psych exam, I'm assuming they also look for indications of drug use though they may not routinely test for this... there will be questions in the medical about drug use and alcohol even, if you've ever used a drug that is illegal in the US, you better have a doctors prescription, this is one of the big things people fail medical with, even when it's pretty much ancient history (this is one of the few areas that people here on VJ will routinely advocate hiding, as the US stance on this is extremely zero tolerance... admit to using cocain once 15 years ago and expect denial... I think there is a waiver you can file in that case but yikes, if my fiancee had any reason to say yes to any drug question I'd probably have told her to say NO unless there was some kind of public record about it).

They'll take an x-ray of your chest, I think this is primarily to look for TB symptoms, but it might also be to look for other things, this may or may not be routine in all countries, it probably is routine for any poor country but I'm guessing it's considered unnecessary in the UK for example.

They'll likely ask questions about your medical history (I am listing this last but it's probably one of the first steps of course). They apparently determine on your first day there what immunizations you need. The immunizations are based on a few things, not everyone will have the same shots to get... Age, gender and immunization history will determine this. Females up to age 26 need to get the HPV vaccine (it's a three shot process done over several months, but they only give you the first injection). The MMR shot (not sure what it's for but it's pretty common that most people get it) can interfere with pregnancy so if you are pregnant you can't get that vaccine, it's also strongly advised you don't get pregnant within a month of the shot. You are not required to get the vaccinations for the k-1 visa btw, and for example if you are pregnant you can't get at least one of them, you must do the vaccinations for AOS though so it's best to get them at the initial medical (you can probably avoid a second medical in the US if you don't put off AOS).

My fiancee will be getting 4 shots, I know one is the MMR, and I'm sure another is the HPV vaccine, but I don't know the other ones. Many of the various vaccination shots are for more than one disease, so those 4 shots may cover a lot of vaccinations (she had no records and likely doesn't know what she's been vaccinated against so for her age and gender she's getting them all).

Finally... I have to admit I had a hard time falling asleep last night, I wasn't so much worried about the interview, or at least I didn't think so... but if I got 3 hours sleep I'd be surprised... gonna be a long day at work today.... Also, I recommend hitting the regional forums for your specific country, that's where people seem to post their medical experiences, you can read what they said they had to do there, as some things may vary by country... I only read the philippines forum and off topic (aka the american forum?). Oh yeah, another small detail, the doctor wrote 1-22-2008 in her passport for the medical date... instead of 2009!

One last OH YEAH... my fiancee said they asked her if she had completed college (or maybe completed her degree)... and the first day of her last period... this is the first time I ever saw anything about asking about college though maybe it's because most people either don't go or go and finish (she was 1 semester short of getting her degree, her family had surprise medical bills so she stopped college and got a job to help out).

Edited January 22, 2009 by maliciant

[Noa&Mia 0]

This waiting sucks!!!!

WE ARE APPROVED!!!!!! I was sad all day and then I get home tonight from work and check my box and what did I see a I-797 notice.....weird thing is....I never received any touches and it still states my status is pending.....notice date was January 15,2009........I'm speechless..........

Oh my god!!! congratulations!!!!!!!!!!! yeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii VSC approval!!!!!!!!! wuujuuuuuuuuuu!!

You didnt get any e-mail???? WOW this is AWESOME NEWS!!!!!!! I know we are getting ours really soon!!!

Hi folks,

God is indeed faithful~

I got my visa just on time! i got it today and tomorow im gonna go to CFO seminar and book my flight.

pls pray for me, im getting so sad! but well i have to leave my family and everything here for my fiance and baby.

thanks for all the advises and help and hope during my aos process, i can still confide in you...

God be with you all.

jazz

jazz!!! dont be sad!! you will be seeing them in a few months!!! you should be happy!! you are meeting your fiance and baby!!! yeiiiiiiiiiii I hope you have a safe trip!!!! i am so happy for all the people who already got their visa YEIIIIIIIIIII

[Chuck and Grace 0]

Thanks Maliciant, but I was expecting a little more detail.

You never once mentioned the doctors name, the color of their eyes, how big the needle is, Come ON! give us some important information!

[Stinkerpotsam 5]

Hi folks,

God is indeed faithful~

I got my visa just on time! i got it today and tomorow im gonna go to CFO seminar and book my flight.

pls pray for me, im getting so sad! but well i have to leave my family and everything here for my fiance and baby.

thanks for all the advises and help and hope during my aos process, i can still confide in you...

God be with you all.

jazz

I can only imagine how hard this would be; sending happy thoughts your way

[Stinkerpotsam 5]

Thanks Maliciant, but I was expecting a little more detail.

You never once mentioned the doctors name, the color of their eyes, how big the needle is, Come ON! give us some important information!

For real Dude...

Seriously though..that was helpful thanks

[Badgerella 5]

Hi folks,

God is indeed faithful~

I got my visa just on time! i got it today and tomorow im gonna go to CFO seminar and book my flight.

pls pray for me, im getting so sad! but well i have to leave my family and everything here for my fiance and baby.

thanks for all the advises and help and hope during my aos process, i can still confide in you...

God be with you all.

jazz

Congratulations!

Our timeline is exactly the same... up to the point where our case got eaten by NVC. Five weeks later, we're still not out. =(

[New2014 0]

Hi folks,

God is indeed faithful~

I got my visa just on time! i got it today and tomorow im gonna go to CFO seminar and book my flight.

pls pray for me, im getting so sad! but well i have to leave my family and everything here for my fiance and baby.

thanks for all the advises and help and hope during my aos process, i can still confide in you...

God be with you all.

jazz

Good luck on your journey.

Yes it will come soon for you.....just a little while longer......

[Fred N Emilia 0]

Some questions they ask for on your medical (Philippines - St. Lukes)

1. Any Major operations?

2. Do you have Asthma?

3. Are you allergic to any medicine or food?

4. Do you smoke marijuana?

5. Do you smoke cigarettes?

6. Do you drink alcohol?

7. Have you ever had Chicken pox? (if yes) Where are the marks?

8. Have you ever had an abortion?

9. Have you ever attempted to commit suicide?

10. When was your last menstrual cycle?

11. What are those scars? How did you get them?

12. Do you have dentures? Any permanent fillings?

13. How many pregnancies? Any miscarriages?

14. When was the last time you had sexual contact? How was it?