Medical Exam in Almaty

[ITBOB 30]

Ineska,

 

Thanks for the information! I still haven't been able to get to the passport delivery option but the service center changed the delivery to VFS Global for me. Now I am trying to get a confirmation letter and I think we will be good. I think the issue is because we scheduled our own appointment and not NVC. It seems like I am seeing different web pages that someone who had the appointment scheduled by NVC. I never had the options you described earlier as the only choice was the DHL office and there was no way to print a confirmation letter. I have asked the service center to send me a confirmation and I am waiting for their response. Thanks again for all the information you have given me and I will report back to you how our process went. We will be leaving for Almaty this Wednesday and I will report from there.

[Ineska 22]

6 hours ago, ITBOB said:

Ineska,

 

Thanks for the information! I still haven't been able to get to the passport delivery option but the service center changed the delivery to VFS Global for me. Now I am trying to get a confirmation letter and I think we will be good. I think the issue is because we scheduled our own appointment and not NVC. It seems like I am seeing different web pages that someone who had the appointment scheduled by NVC. I never had the options you described earlier as the only choice was the DHL office and there was no way to print a confirmation letter. I have asked the service center to send me a confirmation and I am waiting for their response. Thanks again for all the information you have given me and I will report back to you how our process went. We will be leaving for Almaty this Wednesday and I will report from there.

Glad you guys got the pick up location squared away! 
 

Good luck and enjoy your time in Almaty! Kazakhstani people are super welcoming and are very sweet people, you guys will love it! 
 

Safe travels and can’t wait to hear the good news!

[ITBOB 30]

My mother-in-law had her medical exam at the IMC clinic in Almaty today, and everything went very smooth. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful and my MIL who is a doctor herself was very impressed with the doctor who did the exam. The X-Ray which is done in a separate location was a little hectic but also went smooth. we had to return to the X-ray location two hours later to pick up a CD. Her interview is this Thursday (9-7-23) and hopefully everything will go as smooth as the exam. I will post again after her interview for everyone's information.

[Ineska 22]

3 hours ago, ITBOB said:

My mother-in-law had her medical exam at the IMC clinic in Almaty today, and everything went very smooth. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful and my MIL who is a doctor herself was very impressed with the doctor who did the exam. The X-Ray which is done in a separate location was a little hectic but also went smooth. we had to return to the X-ray location two hours later to pick up a CD. Her interview is this Thursday (9-7-23) and hopefully everything will go as smooth as the exam. I will post again after her interview for everyone's information.

Glad everything is going smoothly! Thanks for the update! 

Were you guys able to get the pick up location sorted out?

 

Good luck on the 7th! I am sure everything will go smoothly

[ITBOB 30]

Ineska,

 

Yes, the service center changed the document pickup point to the VFS Global office in Almaty, and a couple of days ago they sent me an updated confirmation letter with the correct address. I think we are good to go with the paperwork now and we will relax the next couple of days until the interview. You were right about the people here, they are very friendly and helpful. Fortunately my wife and MIL speak Russian so that makes thing easier, but many places have English speaking staff now which helps. The weather is great here and my wife has me walking with her everywhere, but the hills are about to wear me out. I will post after the interview and let everyone know how things went. 

[ITBOB 30]

This morning my mother-in-law had her interview at the US consulate in Almaty. Her appointment was at 8:00 AM and we arrived at 7:30 and there was a few people waiting at the entrance. My wife and her mother went to the front and the security officer called out for 8:00 AM appointments and I was surprised that there was only one other person waiting. They let my MIL into the lobby but when my wife tried to accompany her they would not let her in the door. I had read that an elderly person could have someone accompany them but they refused my wife entry. We waited in front of the consulate for about 45 minutes and my MIL came walking out the door. Everything else I write is based on my MIL recollection because we were not there. I had organized all of the required paperwork into a multi-tab organizer with all tabs labeled for what documents they contained. She said they wanted to see her and my wives original birth certificates, the DS-260, our 1040 tax form and that was it. They didn't look at any of the notarized translations or copies. I had spent hours and $ getting all of the translations and they didn't even look at them. They told her that they didn't have a digital copy of her updated police report even though I had uploaded it to CEAC a month ago. They accepted the original police report that she had, but again didn't care about the translations. When she was called to the interview window she said they asked her how many times she had been married and what happened to her spouses. She has been married three times and one ended in a divorce and the other two spouses were deceased. They knew that already because they had the divorce and death certificates. She said the interviewer then asked her where she was going to live and she told them Florida, and that was the last question they asked. They told her that her visa would be ready in two days and gave her a small piece of paper with the VFS address on it and she was out the door. She said that everybody treated her very well and the whole experience was better then she thought it was going to be. I had read on the website that they would give her a visa packet with information in it but she received nothing other than the address of VFS. I tried to pay the immigrant fee online but it requires her "A" number which is supposed to be in the visa package she should have received. I am hoping that this information will be with the passport when we pick it up. I am not sure if VFS will contact me or I need to contact them so I will check into that tomorrow and post what I find out. All in all it went much smoother and quickly than any of us anticipated so hopefully this will help others coming up on interviews. I will post again in the next couple of days to report on how long it took to get the visa and how that went. Thanks to everybody who helped me through this process!

[Ineska 22]

3 hours ago, ITBOB said:

This morning my mother-in-law had her interview at the US consulate in Almaty. Her appointment was at 8:00 AM and we arrived at 7:30 and there was a few people waiting at the entrance. My wife and her mother went to the front and the security officer called out for 8:00 AM appointments and I was surprised that there was only one other person waiting. They let my MIL into the lobby but when my wife tried to accompany her they would not let her in the door. I had read that an elderly person could have someone accompany them but they refused my wife entry. We waited in front of the consulate for about 45 minutes and my MIL came walking out the door. Everything else I write is based on my MIL recollection because we were not there. I had organized all of the required paperwork into a multi-tab organizer with all tabs labeled for what documents they contained. She said they wanted to see her and my wives original birth certificates, the DS-260, our 1040 tax form and that was it. They didn't look at any of the notarized translations or copies. I had spent hours and $ getting all of the translations and they didn't even look at them. They told her that they didn't have a digital copy of her updated police report even though I had uploaded it to CEAC a month ago. They accepted the original police report that she had, but again didn't care about the translations. When she was called to the interview window she said they asked her how many times she had been married and what happened to her spouses. She has been married three times and one ended in a divorce and the other two spouses were deceased. They knew that already because they had the divorce and death certificates. She said the interviewer then asked her where she was going to live and she told them Florida, and that was the last question they asked. They told her that her visa would be ready in two days and gave her a small piece of paper with the VFS address on it and she was out the door. She said that everybody treated her very well and the whole experience was better then she thought it was going to be. I had read on the website that they would give her a visa packet with information in it but she received nothing other than the address of VFS. I tried to pay the immigrant fee online but it requires her "A" number which is supposed to be in the visa package she should have received. I am hoping that this information will be with the passport when we pick it up. I am not sure if VFS will contact me or I need to contact them so I will check into that tomorrow and post what I find out. All in all it went much smoother and quickly than any of us anticipated so hopefully this will help others coming up on interviews. I will post again in the next couple of days to report on how long it took to get the visa and how that went. Thanks to everybody who helped me through this process!

Yay! Congrats, guys! So glad everything went well! 🙂

 

Thank you for sharing! I was also thinking they’ll give you a piece of paper with the info for immigration fees, maybe the pick up location will have it?

 

I’ve been looking for immigration fees a while back and here is what I came up. If  the pick up location doesnt have it, I am pretty sure this is it

 

https://my.uscis.gov/uscis-immigrant-fee/enter-data

 

Safe travels to you all and Happy Moving to your MIL! 🙂

[TBoneTX 43,081]

6 hours ago, ITBOB said:

I had spent hours and $ getting all of the translations and they didn't even look at them.

For any consular interview, it's far preferable to have more than you need than to need more than you have.

 

Very happy to hear about the successful outcome!

[ITBOB 30]

Today we went to VFS Global to pickup my MIL's passport with VISA. Our experience was almost identical as was reported earlier by SIMPLYTEX. The day after the interview at about 4:00 PM local time we received an email from the service desk that the passport had been picked up and was on its way to VFS Global. This was the same time as reported by SIMPLYTEX, so they probable automatically send out this email at 4:00 PM the day after the interview. Because our interview was on a Thursday and we received that notification on a Friday, and knowing that VFS Global is closed on the weekends we waited until today (Monday) to go to VFS. We arrived at VFS at about 11:30 AM Monday and my wife and MIL went into the office while I waited outside the office in a small waiting area. They were in the office about 10 minutes and received an envelope containing the passport with VISA and instructions on how to pay the immigrant fee. The information says that the "A" number and case ID# are printed on the flyer but they are not. You can get both numbers off of the attached VISA even though it is not called an "A" number on the VISA but instead called a "Registration number". I was successfully able to pay the "Immigrant Fee" with that information and was informed that her "Green Card" would be mailed to the address on the application. I think if the interview had been earlier in the week the VISA would have been ready in two days like they told us at the consulate. INESKA, I know you are trying to decide on return flight dates so I think you could plan on two days after the interview to get the VISA if your interview falls on an earlier day of the week. We will be departing Almaty to go back to the US on Wednesday morning. Not looking forward to the long flight but we have been here two weeks and ready to go home. Almaty is a beautiful place and the people here are incredibly friendly, so we will wish that part of our trip. I hope this information helps other people coming up for interviews and If I can answer any questions I will. Thanks to everybody that offered advice and INESKA, good luck on your mothers interview. I am sure it will go as smooth as ours was!

[TBoneTX 43,081]

ITBOB, congratulations.  What a relief!  Thanks for your helpful update.

Edited September 11, 2023 by TBoneTX

[Ineska 22]

10 hours ago, ITBOB said:

Today we went to VFS Global to pickup my MIL's passport with VISA. Our experience was almost identical as was reported earlier by SIMPLYTEX. The day after the interview at about 4:00 PM local time we received an email from the service desk that the passport had been picked up and was on its way to VFS Global. This was the same time as reported by SIMPLYTEX, so they probable automatically send out this email at 4:00 PM the day after the interview. Because our interview was on a Thursday and we received that notification on a Friday, and knowing that VFS Global is closed on the weekends we waited until today (Monday) to go to VFS. We arrived at VFS at about 11:30 AM Monday and my wife and MIL went into the office while I waited outside the office in a small waiting area. They were in the office about 10 minutes and received an envelope containing the passport with VISA and instructions on how to pay the immigrant fee. The information says that the "A" number and case ID# are printed on the flyer but they are not. You can get both numbers off of the attached VISA even though it is not called an "A" number on the VISA but instead called a "Registration number". I was successfully able to pay the "Immigrant Fee" with that information and was informed that her "Green Card" would be mailed to the address on the application. I think if the interview had been earlier in the week the VISA would have been ready in two days like they told us at the consulate. INESKA, I know you are trying to decide on return flight dates so I think you could plan on two days after the interview to get the VISA if your interview falls on an earlier day of the week. We will be departing Almaty to go back to the US on Wednesday morning. Not looking forward to the long flight but we have been here two weeks and ready to go home. Almaty is a beautiful place and the people here are incredibly friendly, so we will wish that part of our trip. I hope this information helps other people coming up for interviews and If I can answer any questions I will. Thanks to everybody that offered advice and INESKA, good luck on your mothers interview. I am sure it will go as smooth as ours was!

🎉🎉🎉

 

Thank you, @ITBOB for the awesome news and great update!

 

Congrats guys! So happy for you! Thank you for sharing all of your updates! It’s been so helpful!

I’ll post my updates from Oct 24 apt as well. 
 

Our apt is on Tues, so we are thinking of getting a return ticket for Sat also. 

 

Safe travels to you all! 🙂

[M_GlaD 3]

On 8/10/2023 at 12:43 PM, Ineska said:

Hey Guys just got an email with interview apt date for Oct 24!

 

Would you mind letting me know how /where did you register for the passport with visa pick after the interview? I see in the pre-interview check list that I need to register for it but there is no info where/how to do it for Almaty.

Congrats Ineska! I was just wondering did you request to expedite an interview appointment by any chance? We're DQed on July 31 (IR5)  and still waiting for IL   So frustrating...  

[Ineska 22]

On 9/16/2023 at 8:48 AM, M_GlaD said:

Congrats Ineska! I was just wondering did you request to expedite an interview appointment by any chance? We're DQed on July 31 (IR5)  and still waiting for IL   So frustrating...  

hey there- I didnt see your question earlier. No, we got DQ’d within 2 weeks and then maybe 4-6 weeks after DQ got an email with IL. Btw- only my mom got the email I didnt. She wasnt even sure if it was spam when it came thru… please check all emails just to be sure. Hope you guys hear soon.

[M_GlaD 3]

5 hours ago, Ineska said:

hey there- I didnt see your question earlier. No, we got DQ’d within 2 weeks and then maybe 4-6 weeks after DQ got an email with IL. Btw- only my mom got the email I didnt. She wasnt even sure if it was spam when it came thru… please check all emails just to be sure. Hope you guys hear soon.

My mom actually got her interview date a week or so ago 🎉I guess I was just freaking out too much 🤦🏻‍♀️ and an interesting thing is that she didn’t even get an email, the lawyer and myself got it… but it’s all good and we are looking forward to the interview. Please post here about your mom’s interview experience if you can, ours will be in November 😊

[Ineska 22]

8 hours ago, M_GlaD said:

My mom actually got her interview date a week or so ago 🎉I guess I was just freaking out too much 🤦🏻‍♀️ and an interesting thing is that she didn’t even get an email, the lawyer and myself got it… but it’s all good and we are looking forward to the interview. Please post here about your mom’s interview experience if you can, ours will be in November 😊

Congrats on the IL! 🎉

 

Will post our update. 🙂