US Embassy Nairobi - Interview, Medical & Embassy Questions

[rodceasar 34]

Hello VJ'ers,

I am seeking to find answers to a few questions. My wife is a Ugandan citizen and will soon hopefully be going to the US Embassy Nairobi for her interview. I wanted to know:

1) How many days following interview, if approved will she be able to have visa in hand? She lives in Uganda and the cost for me to travel there with her is alot and need to have an idea of how much time to take off from work to escort her to Kenya, take medical, interview, await visa, travel back to Uganda, etc.

2) My spouse has not taken any vacinations or have knowledge of having them, so how long between the medical and interview should be alotted? I know the State Dept website indicates at least (1) week but we are both traveling to get there and me much more travel and cannot afford to be there for an extended amount of time. I really would like a few days but not if it will cause problems since she has never had shots.

3)how many countries does the US Embassy Nairobi service? Does this have a huge impact on people being scheduled meanning due to the number of countries, it would push the intervierw date way back. NVC is yet to schedule and Case was completed on July 19th. I read somewhere, (18) countries but unsure if this is accurate since the info was outdated.

4)How is safety/security currently in Kenya nearby the Embassy?

I appreciate everyone who takes the time out to help answer some of these questions. I am currently planning my trip to attend the interview wiht my spouse, however it's difficult to plan when everything is so open-ended with this process. My intent is to return with my wife a few days following her interview. This is going to be a costly trip for me to fly there and back with my wife. Also, the fact of not knowing when visa will be issued makes it difficult to plan plane ticket purchases. Thank you!

[Zee Bee 61]

You may want to take a look at this thread. Good luck!!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/160251-nairobi-embassy-thread/

[rodceasar 34]

You may want to take a look at this thread. Good luck!!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/160251-nairobi-embassy-thread/

Thanks for the info but I have seen that thread numerous times and although it has been updated a bit, alot of info is not updated and I don't want to chance things from it without knowing for certain. Also, it seems to address people who are applying for simple visas/tourist etc and not specifically miigrant visas. For instance, I don't have to bring the large number of documents indicated for this was all required by NVC for case completion. Thanks for your help though and I do revisit that embassy thread regularly for updates to it.

[katie & sifa 25]

Thanks for the info but I have seen that thread numerous times and although it has been updated a bit, alot of info is not updated and I don't want to chance things from it without knowing for certain. Also, it seems to address people who are applying for simple visas/tourist etc and not specifically miigrant visas. For instance, I don't have to bring the large number of documents indicated for this was all required by NVC for case completion. Thanks for your help though and I do revisit that embassy thread regularly for updates to it.

If you check out the other thread we have the answers to a lot of your questions. Everyone in the thread is either filing/filed for K-1 or CR-1 - I don't think any of us were applying for tourist visas. We went to Sifa's interview in January, and here's what I know about your questions:

1. For us, one week. Madwoman was able to ask if they could wait and get the visa same day since they had to travel back to Uganda, and they let her. Since we had to be in Nairobi again in a week anyway for me to fly back home, it was no problem to wait a week so we didn't ask for an expedite. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

2. The issue with time between medical & the interview isn't really the vaccines...it's more waiting for test results and the x-ray, I think. Sifa got all the vaccines and the medical exam done in one day, then went back 3 days later to get the results of everything. His medical was about 3 weeks to a month before the interview, but he could have done it within a week. Note that he did medical in Mombasa, not Nairobi. I don't know if that made a difference with the time.

3. This I'm not sure about...but our interview was scheduled really quickly. Too quickly, in fact - we had to reschedule because they gave him 3 weeks! He had to get the police report and all that jazz so we rescheduled for a month later so that I could go to the interview with him & he had plenty of time to gather everything. The hold up may be with NVC.

4. Nairobi in general is not as scary as others make it out to be. Just use common sense. The Embassy is in a safe part of town. We took a taxi from our hotel at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning so we'd be first in line (ended up being second!) so we were standing around outside in the dark for a while and I didn't feel unsafe.

Hope that helps - good luck!!

Edited August 19, 2010 by katie & sifa

[rodceasar 34]

If you check out the other thread we have the answers to a lot of your questions. Everyone in the thread is either filing/filed for K-1 or CR-1 - I don't think any of us were applying for tourist visas. We went to Sifa's interview in January, and here's what I know about your questions:

1. For us, one week. Madwoman was able to ask if they could wait and get the visa same day since they had to travel back to Uganda, and they let her. Since we had to be in Nairobi again in a week anyway for me to fly back home, it was no problem to wait a week so we didn't ask for an expedite. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

2. The issue with time between medical & the interview isn't really the vaccines...it's more waiting for test results and the x-ray, I think. Sifa got all the vaccines and the medical exam done in one day, then went back 3 days later to get the results of everything. His medical was about 3 weeks to a month before the interview, but he could have done it within a week. Note that he did medical in Mombasa, not Nairobi. I don't know if that made a difference with the time.

3. This I'm not sure about...but our interview was scheduled really quickly. Too quickly, in fact - we had to reschedule because they gave him 3 weeks! He had to get the police report and all that jazz so we rescheduled for a month later so that I could go to the interview with him & he had plenty of time to gather everything. The hold up may be with NVC.

4. Nairobi in general is not as scary as others make it out to be. Just use common sense. The Embassy is in a safe part of town. We took a taxi from our hotel at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning so we'd be first in line (ended up being second!) so we were standing around outside in the dark for a while and I didn't feel unsafe.

Hope that helps - good luck!!

Thank you for the really good information you have provided 'katie & sifa'! I really thank you for your response fo rthese things have been concerning me greatly. I also agree that NVC is just sitting on scheduling my interview. I had contacted the embassy via email twice and both times they said they could not do anything because my case is no tthere.

Is there anything that can be done besides just waiting on NVC? Again, my fears with them is tha tnothing will be done timely and they just don't care. Also, could you provide the link to the other thread you had mentioned in your post. I might have seen it but want to make sure. Agaiin, thank you for all your info! It is of great help!

[katie & sifa 25]

Thank you for the really good information you have provided 'katie & sifa'! I really thank you for your response fo rthese things have been concerning me greatly. I also agree that NVC is just sitting on scheduling my interview. I had contacted the embassy via email twice and both times they said they could not do anything because my case is no tthere.

Is there anything that can be done besides just waiting on NVC? Again, my fears with them is tha tnothing will be done timely and they just don't care. Also, could you provide the link to the other thread you had mentioned in your post. I might have seen it but want to make sure. Agaiin, thank you for all your info! It is of great help!

It's the thread posted above: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/160251-nairobi-embassy-thread/ - Highly recommend posting in there when you have questions. A lot of us have the thread set up to send an email alert when a new post is made so getting answers is pretty quick.

I'm not sure about NVC...we had a K-1 visa and the petition for that does not go to NVC for very long. We didn't even receive a notice that the petition had been approved, so by the time we knew that we were through the first part of the immigration process the file was already at the Embassy & a few days later Sifa got his medical paperwork & interview date in the mail. You may be able to get more info about what to do with NVC in the main CR-1 forum

[rodceasar 34]

It's the thread posted above: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/160251-nairobi-embassy-thread/ - Highly recommend posting in there when you have questions. A lot of us have the thread set up to send an email alert when a new post is made so getting answers is pretty quick.

I'm not sure about NVC...we had a K-1 visa and the petition for that does not go to NVC for very long. We didn't even receive a notice that the petition had been approved, so by the time we knew that we were through the first part of the immigration process the file was already at the Embassy & a few days later Sifa got his medical paperwork & interview date in the mail. You may be able to get more info about what to do with NVC in the main CR-1 forum

Thank you again for the great info and will follow your guidance moving forward.