Recieved medical notification and when to contact the embassy

[ChadTaljaardt 4]

Hello, 

I had my visa interview on the 5th of November. During the interview, they had not received my medical information (i had my medical on the 31st of October) so they said that they will put the visa on hold until they get that, and then they will approve it. 

It has been 9 days since the interview, and they say that the visa will be approved in approximately 7-10 days. I have not received any sort of notification to say that they received my medical, should i call them to try to find out what is happening with that or wait longer?

I have a flight booked to the USA for the 4th December, so i have got a lot of time still, but if there is an issue id like to get it fixed asap. 

 

Thanks

Edited November 14, 2018 by ChadTaljaardt

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

any indication u passed or did not pass the medical exam?

[ChadTaljaardt 4]

4 minutes ago, adil-rafa said:

any indication u passed or did not pass the medical exam?

I haven't heard anything back from he medical exam. 

When i went they said that the medical all looked fine, but i haven't received any notifications regarding it. They obviously still had to do a blood test etc.

[thatguyuknow 147]

Why would you book flights before having your Visa? You cray cray?

[Wuozopo 4,285]

49 minutes ago, ChadTaljaardt said:

Hello, 

I had my visa interview on the 5th of November. During the interview, they had not received my medical information (i had my medical on the 31st of October) so they said that they will put the visa on hold until they get that, and then they will approve it. 

It has been 9 days since the interview, and they say that the visa will be approved in approximately 7-10 days. I have not received any sort of notification to say that they received my medical, should i call them to try to find out what is happening with that or wait longer?

I have a flight booked to the USA for the 4th December, so i have got a lot of time still, but if there is an issue id like to get it fixed asap. 

 

Thanks

London does not notify you when the medical arrives. You can call the clinic and see when they sent it over. It's better to leave more time between the medical and interview because the clinic-to-embassy has been slower all of 2018 than ever before. (Since the move into the new embassy in mid January). We have suggested 10 days to 2 weeks in the UK forum because there's a lot who get to their interview this year and the medical is not in their file. Once you get out of sequence, you are in the slow queue of them backtracking to pick up cases not completely ready on interview day while they continue to interview a new group every day. 

 

There was a holiday on Monday for the embassy, so take off a day for that. And there also seems to be a group of you who just interviewed and nobody has gotten their visa. Could be an internal delay of some sort...computers down...visa printer down...etc. See the UK forum and find the discussions.

 

Also, there is no way to get an answer from the London Immigrant Visa Unit by telephone. They have a "contact us" email on their website. 

 

Edit to add: Your 7-10 days is standard for those who have everything in place on interview days. You should go with 10 days from when the medical was sent over. And don't count the holiday in there.

Edited November 14, 2018 by Wuozopo

[ChadTaljaardt 4]

On 11/14/2018 at 1:48 PM, Wuozopo said:

London does not notify you when the medical arrives. You can call the clinic and see when they sent it over. It's better to leave more time between the medical and interview because the clinic-to-embassy has been slower all of 2018 than ever before. (Since the move into the new embassy in mid January). We have suggested 10 days to 2 weeks in the UK forum because there's a lot who get to their interview this year and the medical is not in their file. Once you get out of sequence, you are in the slow queue of them backtracking to pick up cases not completely ready on interview day while they continue to interview a new group every day. 

 

There was a holiday on Monday for the embassy, so take off a day for that. And there also seems to be a group of you who just interviewed and nobody has gotten their visa. Could be an internal delay of some sort...computers down...visa printer down...etc. See the UK forum and find the discussions.

 

Also, there is no way to get an answer from the London Immigrant Visa Unit by telephone. They have a "contact us" email on their website. 

 

Edit to add: Your 7-10 days is standard for those who have everything in place on interview days. You should go with 10 days from when the medical was sent over. And don't count the holiday in there.

Okay so i contacted the visa medical, they said the embassy received it on the 7th. The case was last updated on the 8th according to CEAC, and is in administrative processing. 

 

So 10 days from the 7th would take it to the 17th, and then there was that 1 day holiday which would take it to the 18th, so i'm 2 days over the 10 day estimate right now. So i expect to hear back from them some time this week. 

 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

1 hour ago, ChadTaljaardt said:

So 10 days from the 7th would take it to the 17th, and then there was that 1 day holiday which would take it to the 18th, so i'm 2 days over the 10 day estimate right now. So i expect to hear back from them some time this week. 

I would start counting on the 8th because the day it arrives doesn't mean it got in the hands of an immigration officer. The update on 8th may indicate a person of rank got it or maybe the mailroom indicated arrival but not to an officer yet. And it doesn't mean he had time to go back to your case even if it's on his desk. If it doesn't go to "Issued" Tuesday/Wednesday, then Thursday is another holiday where the embassy is closed. Then your guy takes Friday off for a long weekend. See how there's so many little variables?  You can't really predict it down to the day. When it says "issued", then expect email in two days and visa in three, not counting Thanksgiving or the weekend.

Edited November 20, 2018 by Wuozopo

[ChadTaljaardt 4]

On 11/20/2018 at 1:48 PM, Wuozopo said:

I would start counting on the 8th because the day it arrives doesn't mean it got in the hands of an immigration officer. The update on 8th may indicate a person of rank got it or maybe the mailroom indicated arrival but not to an officer yet. And it doesn't mean he had time to go back to your case even if it's on his desk. If it doesn't go to "Issued" Tuesday/Wednesday, then Thursday is another holiday where the embassy is closed. Then your guy takes Friday off for a long weekend. See how there's so many little variables?  You can't really predict it down to the day. When it says "issued", then expect email in two days and visa in three, not counting Thanksgiving or the weekend.

 

Hello, 

Do you know if there are any issues at the US Embassy in London?

I tried to email them on the 23rd November regarding our case but just got a generic response. 
 

Hello, 

I had my interview on the 5th November; generally, it takes 7-10 days for the visa to be approved and it has been 18 days for me so far. My medical was not there on the day of the interview, and it arrived and was processed on the 8th. I am just concerned about if there are any issues, i have not heard anything from the embassy since the interview. 

Would you possibly be able to let me know the status of the visa and if there are any issues?

Thanks, 
Chad Taljaardt

 

Thank you for your email.
 
To clarify, if  visa application is approved following a visa interview, the average processing time is 7-10 working days plus a further 1-2 days for delivery. However, if further information or documentation is required, additional time should be allowed. We cannot guarantee an outcome on or before any given date as processing varies in each and every case.
 
As soon as visa processing is complete and delivery arrangements have been made, you can expect the courier service to email you with information about how to track the delivery of your passport. 
 
Sincerely, 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2018 by ChadTaljaardt

[Wuozopo 4,285]

7 minutes ago, ChadTaljaardt said:

Hello, 

Do you know if there are any issues at the US Embassy in London?

 I tried to email them on the 23rd November regarding our case but just got a generic response. 
 

 

I know they closed yesterday in honor of national day of mourning of George H.W. Bush.

And I know if you email asking status, they fob you off as a very low priority, dealing with actual problems that can be fixed first.  If it is indeed a security AP where additional checks are being made, they reveal nothing...not why or how long it will take. Your name doesn't sound old school British, so is there a chance your nationality is playing into this? Even if somebody with the same name is in a database worldwide, they would have to check that out to clear you as not being the same person or a relative.

[ChadTaljaardt 4]

7 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

 

I know they closed yesterday in honor of national day of mourning of George H.W. Bush.

And I know if you email asking status, they fob you off as a very low priority, dealing with actual problems that can be fixed first.  If it is indeed a security AP where additional checks are being made, they reveal nothing...not why or how long it will take. Your name doesn't sound old school British, so is there a chance your nationality is playing into this? Even if somebody with the same name is in a database worldwide, they would have to check that out to clear you as not being the same person or a relative.

I was born in South Africa, but i know my ancestors are from the UK. We moved from South Africa to the uk in 2006 and i was 9 years old at that time. 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

1 minute ago, ChadTaljaardt said:

I was born in South Africa, but i know my ancestors are from the UK. We moved from South Africa to the uk in 2006 and i was 9 years old at that time. 

Well that doesn't sound terrorist related. I have known many people not born in the UK to have an extended AP. One was from Australia. Go figure.

But that was more common maybe 8 years ago and there hasn't been as much talk in the UK forum about that in recent years. Just throwing out experience in case it helps you.