IR1 spousal visa: additional tb testing 9 weeks: what is your experience?

[shascallreyes 0]

Hello all!

I am very new but was curious to find others on this forum who had their medical results delayed because when they went to the clinic the x-rays taken showed "suspicous shadows" which was thought to be Tuberculosis? Then this delayed the visa... Let me list my husband and I's experience so far...

Husband is the beneficiary, I am the petitioner US citizen)--- for IR1 visa

June 4, 2015 email notice of case sent to US Embassy

June 11, 2015 email to state that VAC and interview are ready to be scheduled (scheduled that night)

June 24, 2015 VAC appt/MEDICAL EXAM

** At the med exam at SEM clinic my husband was told that his chest xrays had shadowing that looked like tuberculosis, so he was told to come back as soon as possibly to complete three consecutive days of SPUTUM culture tests. Basically he had to make himself cough as hard as he could three days in a row and to wait for 9 weeks for the cultures to develop to see if he was positive or negative for TB. We were also told to cancel visa interview until med results came back. However we did not and were told by several friends to go anyhow and just let embassy know that the medical exams were pending. What could it hurt?

**July 6, 2015 original date for interview (BUT UPON ARRIVAL, US EMBASSY SENT EVERYONE HOME DUE TO MALFUNCTION ISSUES WITH ENTIRE VISA NETWORK--NEW INTERVIEW AUTOMATICALLY SCHEDULED)

July 22, 2015 new interview appt for 8:00 am.

*** started interview at 7:45 am (15 minutes of basc confirmation questions to match our information already)... and then told to wait until our number was called again for further questioning. We were finally called again to a different interviewer (5 minutes) basically to be told that all paperwork was in order and then we were sworn under oath. BUT because husband's med exam results were missing, we were told by interviewer that the visa would be approved depending on negative TB testing and she gave my husband a 221g denial notice for the visa--but the only thing marked was "medical results needed". We confirmed that clinic would let us know right away.

August 24, 2015 SEM clinc called to confirm our visa case, but no results yet. Husband called clinic everyday to ask about results.

August 28, 2015 med results = negative and clinic advised us to send passport to embassy for visa processing ** passport sent that day

September 1, 2015 called embassy to confirm received passport =yes. no other news.

September 2, 2015 checked status of ustraveldocs webpage and saw update, but additional information of ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING

**sent email to embassy to ask what this means and we thought visa was approved?

September 3, 2015 email notice that visa was approved and visa package should take 2-3 weeks to arrive.

September 7, 2015 update on account: Passport status =at US Embassy

Still waiting as of today September 16, 2015... But what freaks us out is that 2 days ago, on the ustraveldocs webpage, the status no longer says that and now has no information at all on there about what is happening. So I sent an email TODAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 to see if there is a glitch or error on the webpage because we haven't heard any news about anything... Maybe this means the embassy is getting ready to issue the visa and passport back to us.

We are really anxious to know about everyone else's experiences with the actual arrival of the visa and how long it took. Is the 2-3 week timeframe really accurate? We really have no idea because neither my husband nor myself know anyone else this happened to...

I already (foolishly) booked our flights to the U.S. for September 22, 2015 and will probably have to cancel the husband's flight because we found out a short while ago that we are expecting another baby. Since I don't want to give birth here I want to get home with our 3 year old in due time to establish with a doctor back home before and issues could occur.

Anyhow, looking forward to other responses. Hopefully we find other Dominicans because it seems that other countries have slightly different processing times...

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Process & Procedures to Progress Reports.

[jlc201 47]

It seems like your issue at this point isn't so much the TB screening but administrative visa processing at the Embassy. We had a similar process with sputum culture required, so 221g denial at the interview and final approval delayed until receipt of the medical results, but once that was settled we had the visa within 2 weeks. From what you described, your medical exam is complete and they are ready to issue the visa, but they always have to do their final, final background checks, etc. right before actually printing the visa in the passport. What is holding you up now is however long that process takes in the DR consulate, so I would check other members' timelines to get an idea of that.

[shascallreyes 0]

Thank you for your response !

Today we checked and it says "Issued ". 09-17-2015. Does anyone knows how after this get the passport ?

Edited September 18, 2015 by shascallreyes