London Medical Experiences

[Mia and Scott 25]

Looking for insight and other peoples experiences. My husband had his medical yesterday and it didn't go very well. He had an arrest 8 years ago that was alcohol related. We knew the arrest was going to be an issue and were prepared for it. What we were not prepared for was the medical people telling him that because this arrest was alcohol related and the embassy is "cracking down" on alcohol related incidences that they may ask him to abstain from alcohol for a year and attend AA. My husband is NOT an alcoholic. The fact that they deducted that from one incidence 8 years ago and the fact he answered "Yes" to the question do you drink alcohol today is insane. Because he answered "yes" to the question if he drinks today they said he has to be classified as a "Class A Risk" of alcohol related problems. He drinks very sparingly and had one stupid mistake when he was 21 years old. They said the fact that it was 8 years ago and he has not had any incidents since then does not matter. They even went on to say that had the arrest NOT been alcohol related it would have  been better. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? We were prepared to explain his case in relation to the arrest but never in a million years expected him to be accused of having alcohol problems and needing to seek help for it 8 YEARS after an incident that didn't even result in any charges (Everything was dropped). Any advice or insight into this would be greatly appreciated. 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

I think putting too much stock in the medical person’s assessment of what the interviewing officer will do is just going to cause unnecessary worry.  They don’t really know the results of interviews or what they are “cracking down” on. It is true that we did not always provide police certificates at the medical. Now they do to specifically see if there are any incidents with alcohol or drugs. If that is the “cracking down” on data collected, it doesn’t mean the interviewing officer is not going to review the circumstances. I wouldn’t give up hope yet. Just talk it out at the interview. Lucky for you it was postponed and he gets to speak to the officer after having the medical.

 

I can think of one alcohol problem from many years ago and before police certificates were viewed at the medical. The doctor asked his drinking habits and how much he typically drank on a night out at the pub. He popped off “oh about 8 pints” or something like that. Well they hit him on his medical report as having an alcohol problem. The fiancé, who was the one on this forum, never came back to tell what happened at the interview. Did they ask your husband to quantify his current drinking habits. 
 

 

[Crazy Cat 39,386]

This sounds more like the result of admitting to Marijuana use.  Ultimately, the Consulate Officer will make the decision.  Good luck. 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

33 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

This sounds more like the result of admitting to Marijuana use.  Ultimately, the Consulate Officer will make the decision.  Good luck. 

And plenty of admitted marijuana users have gotten visas in London. 

[Crazy Cat 39,386]

8 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

And plenty of admitted marijuana users have gotten visas in London. 

True.   It all boils down to the Consulate Officer...Personally, I have never seen a visa denied because of alcohol.  Marijuana is a whole different category.  

[ashp65 4]

Confuses me why they need to see the police clearance certificate. They should just be doing a medical exam and asking questions about your health only, anything else is for the interview.

[Wuozopo 4,285]

1 hour ago, ashp65 said:

Confuses me why they need to see the police clearance certificate. They should just be doing a medical exam and asking questions about your health only, anything else is for the interview.

It is to gather information for the mental health section which includes substance abuse and addiction. Previously one could just deny ever using alcohol or drugs. The doctor you meet for the first time has no knowledge of you. But if it’s clearly on a police certificate, that paints a different picture that they may need to dig a little deeper into your usage. Same with the summary care record record from the personal doctor. If you’ve got anything on your health record about drugs, alcohol, depression, self-harm, etc., then the visa medical doctor will dig deeper into finding out more.

[Mia and Scott 25]

2 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

I think putting too much stock in the medical person’s assessment of what the interviewing officer will do is just going to cause unnecessary worry.  They don’t really know the results of interviews or what they are “cracking down” on. It is true that we did not always provide police certificates at the medical. Now they do to specifically see if there are any incidents with alcohol or drugs. If that is the “cracking down” on data collected, it doesn’t mean the interviewing officer is not going to review the circumstances. I wouldn’t give up hope yet. Just talk it out at the interview. Lucky for you it was postponed and he gets to speak to the officer after having the medical.

 

I can think of one alcohol problem from many years ago and before police certificates were viewed at the medical. The doctor asked his drinking habits and how much he typically drank on a night out at the pub. He popped off “oh about 8 pints” or something like that. Well they hit him on his medical report as having an alcohol problem. The fiancé, who was the one on this forum, never came back to tell what happened at the interview. Did they ask your husband to quantify his current drinking habits. 
 

 

Thank you, this is encouraging. Yes, they asked him and he was honest that he has a drink every now and then but nothing that should cause any alarm. They also asked him if he has ever tried to abstain from alcohol which I see as a complete trap. Because yes, he has. We both have. We decided together to give alcohol up for health reasons and did a 3 month stint without. But now I’m worried to them that it’s going to look like he tried to give it up because he had a problem but only lasted 3 months which is not at all the case! They can twist that information however they want and now it’s our word versus their opinions. It’s just so unfair and so wrong. 
 

Would also like to add that he’s made an appointment with his GP and is going to ask him to write a formal letter stating that he has never been in for any alcohol abuse related issues (which they can see on his medical records anyways) but hoping a formal letter from his doctor will help in some way. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Mia and Scott

[Mia and Scott 25]

4 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

I can think of one alcohol problem from many years ago and before police certificates were viewed at the medical. The doctor asked his drinking habits and how much he typically drank on a night out at the pub. He popped off “oh about 8 pints” or something like that. Well they hit him on his medical report as having an alcohol problem. The fiancé, who was the one on this forum, never came back to tell what happened at the interview. Did they ask your husband to quantify his current drinking habits. 

Also in regards to this, I feel like it would have been more difficult for them seeing as they weren’t yet married when they were going through this. My husband and I have been married for almost 7 years. 

[Ariananana 4]

13 hours ago, Mia and Scott said:

Looking for insight and other peoples experiences. My husband had his medical yesterday and it didn't go very well. He had an arrest 8 years ago that was alcohol related. We knew the arrest was going to be an issue and were prepared for it. What we were not prepared for was the medical people telling him that because this arrest was alcohol related and the embassy is "cracking down" on alcohol related incidences that they may ask him to abstain from alcohol for a year and attend AA. My husband is NOT an alcoholic. The fact that they deducted that from one incidence 8 years ago and the fact he answered "Yes" to the question do you drink alcohol today is insane. Because he answered "yes" to the question if he drinks today they said he has to be classified as a "Class A Risk" of alcohol related problems. He drinks very sparingly and had one stupid mistake when he was 21 years old. They said the fact that it was 8 years ago and he has not had any incidents since then does not matter. They even went on to say that had the arrest NOT been alcohol related it would have  been better. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? We were prepared to explain his case in relation to the arrest but never in a million years expected him to be accused of having alcohol problems and needing to seek help for it 8 YEARS after an incident that didn't even result in any charges (Everything was dropped). Any advice or insight into this would be greatly appreciated. 

My husband had a caution by the police at around 21 for drunk and disorderly. He’s now 39 and hasn’t had anything since.  We ordered a police certificate to see what it would say and it said No Live Trace (meaning there is a history with the police but it was a long time ago)

 

we thought the best thing to do was to have the caution taken off his record so his acro report was totally clear and clean. 
 

is it too late now to see if you can take the arrest off the certificate? 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

5 hours ago, Ariananana said:

My husband had a caution by the police at around 21 for drunk and disorderly. He’s now 39 and hasn’t had anything since.  We ordered a police certificate to see what it would say and it said No Live Trace (meaning there is a history with the police but it was a long time ago)

 

we thought the best thing to do was to have the caution taken off his record so his acro report was totally clear and clean. 
 

is it too late now to see if you can take the arrest off the certificate? 

If you have “no live trace” on your police certificate, you should order a Subject Access Report from ACRO to take to your interview. US immigration wants to see every record, no matter if stepped down, hidden, or expunged. 

[Ariananana 4]

18 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

If you have “no live trace” on your police certificate, you should order a Subject Access Report from ACRO to take to your interview. US immigration wants to see every record, no matter if stepped down, hidden, or expunged. 

We got the record expunged, ordered a new acro and it said No Trace and had no issues.