Medical & Interview

[vponce 8]

I'm sorry if this is a question overly asked, however me and my fiancée can't seem to find a straight answer for recent years. My fiancee is in Northern Scotland and has no car or license, meaning a trip down to London is very expensive for us. The thought of paying for two trips has my head spinning. We've seen people mentioned how they had their medical and interview for their k-1 the same day, however we can't seem to figure out how. We haven't submitted our readiness forum or set a medical date yet, but are able too. If anyone can shed some light on how to do this I would greatly appreciate it.

[yuna628 9,540]

It's not possible for the UK to my knowledge. Unfortunately, the medical must be completed before the interview, and then you may pick a date with the system for your interview appointment.. which is usually booking a couple weeks out (even though the medical results will be at the embassy within few days of having it). My husband also lived far away from London.. and we debated the options of how to make the long trek down. The train will probably be your best bet compared to flying. Does your fiancé have any friends or family willing to make some day trips when required/drive them?

[slimbolina 48]

Knightsbridge are usually very quick to get you in for a medical, I'm not 100% about how it's done nowadays as it changed as I went for my interview but if you can schedule your interview then I would schedule the medical for the same day. However, by doing so you may run late for one or the other as there's no determining how long each will take. It took an hour and a half for me to have my medical and I was at the embassy for roughly the same amount of time also. I wouldn't advise it personally.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

I could suggest that you make up a medical date for anywhere it asks (Readiness form). Then pick your interview date. Once you have that, make a medical appointment. When you get to the interview, they will not be able to approve without medical results, but will still conduct the interview. Once the results arrive they will go on and approve and issue the visa.

Things to consider:

1) It will be difficult to get from Scotland to London, attending both a medical and interview, and return to Scotland all in one calendar day. The scheduling will be crazy. A one night hotel stay cost might need to be factored in.

2) Sometimes the visa medical panel physician needs more info from the person's GP if there are previous illnesses, surgeries, depression. That could hold up the medical results longer.

3) don't expect a quick turnaround. They may leave the medical results they get in a "to do" box and not get back to finishing your visa for a week or more.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Nich-Nick

[JFH 12,189]

Just putting this out there...but if two trips to London are going to be a financial hardship, the months before he can work once he arrives are going to be even worse.

Does a family member have air miles with BA they can gift him to cover the flights? AirBnB is good for cheap overnight accommodation. Depending on age he might be able to get a railcard which will give him one-third off the price of the rail tickets travelling off-peak. I've just had a look at random dates on megabus.com and there are coaches from Aviemore (just a random place I selected- other Scottish towns are available) to London for £14 each way and that's without any youth or student discount. It's 12 hours and you have to change in Birmingham or something but I'd do that 10 times over to get to my interview to be able to get my visa to be with my hubby. Has he looked at lift share for some of the journey?

[alexandaaron 13]

MegaBus is a great suggestion, and when I was a broke grad student, it got me from the Highlands down to London many a time.