General Help Needed in SA

[KCPT 1]

Hi there. I'm hoping someone will be able to answer my questions. 

 

Background: we applied for the K1 visa in August 2024 and USCIS approved our petition in January 2025. USCIS sent our application to NVC and we're currently waiting for NVC to get back to us. 

 

I know that a police clearance certificate is needed for the embassy interview stage, can anyone from South Africa who is currently going through this process please advise how long it takes to receive the police clearance certificate. 

 

Also, will the interview be conducted at the embassy in Pretoria or will it be done at the consulate in my city (Cape Town)

 

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

 

Much appreciated!

[OldUser 9,836]

11 hours ago, KCPT said:

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

 

Much appreciated!

Typically, Civil Surgeon will decide which vaccinations are required to complete DS-3025. In many cases missing vaccines will be administered at your medical exam appointment. You can call Civil Surgeon and discuss it.

[Ryan H 3,892]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[Lee Thacket 90]

On 2/27/2025 at 2:09 AM, KCPT said:

Hi there. I'm hoping someone will be able to answer my questions. 

 

Background: we applied for the K1 visa in August 2024 and USCIS approved our petition in January 2025. USCIS sent our application to NVC and we're currently waiting for NVC to get back to us. 

 

I know that a police clearance certificate is needed for the embassy interview stage, can anyone from South Africa who is currently going through this process please advise how long it takes to receive the police clearance certificate. 

 

Also, will the interview be conducted at the embassy in Pretoria or will it be done at the consulate in my city (Cape Town)

 

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

 

Much appreciated!

 

First thing with regard to vaccinations get an immunisation report from your doctor to check what is recorded in your medical records.

 

Unfortunately, my doctor had no record of my ever having had any childhood vaccinations.  

 

I was directed to have MMR, Tdap, Hepatitis B and varicella. The last one is waived if you have had a chickenpox. A number of other vaccines were deemed not to be age appropriate for me.

 

As @OldUser says once you have your immunisation record contact the panel physician. They often offer you missing vaccines on the day of your appointment, but that will probably be more expensive than getting them from your own doctor.

[KCPT 1]

On 2/27/2025 at 9:38 PM, OldUser said:

Typically, Civil Surgeon will decide which vaccinations are required to complete DS-3025. In many cases missing vaccines will be administered at your medical exam appointment. You can call Civil Surgeon and discuss it.

Thank you so much! Much appreciated. 

9 hours ago, Lee Thacket said:

 

First thing with regard to vaccinations get an immunisation report from your doctor to check what is recorded in your medical records.

 

Unfortunately, my doctor had no record of my ever having had any childhood vaccinations.  

 

I was directed to have MMR, Tdap, Hepatitis B and varicella. The last one is waived if you have had a chickenpox. A number of other vaccines were deemed not to be age appropriate for me.

 

As @OldUser says once you have your immunisation record contact the panel physician. They often offer you missing vaccines on the day of your appointment, but that will probably be more expensive than getting them from your own doctor.

Thank you for answering! I really appreciate it.

[hplusj 571]

On 2/27/2025 at 2:09 AM, KCPT said:

I know that a police clearance certificate is needed for the embassy interview stage, can anyone from South Africa who is currently going through this process please advise how long it takes to receive the police clearance certificate. 

 

Also, will the interview be conducted at the embassy in Pretoria or will it be done at the consulate in my city (Cape Town)

 

Finally, can someone please provide a list of all vaccinations required. I've heard and read that some are required while others aren't depending on your age. 

1) my now-husband worked with Docassist to get a quote based on a variety of expedited timeframes for the PCC.  I won't give you our quote because it may have changed given current workloads, but worth looking into.  Suffice to say he was able to get his PCC in something like 3 weeks.

 

2) It'll be in Joberg, but you can do your medical in Cape Town.  Look up Dr. Marcus Brauer, he's the civil surgeon you need to see in the Cape.  Since we did the process last summer the trend has been that your medical needs to be 3+ weeks out from the interview in order for it to pass administrative processing.  Even then, it's no guarantee.  Luckily if you poke the embassy a bit after the interview they will connect the dots and bring the medical documentation to the surface.

 

3) Brauer's got you covered.  Just schedule your medical once you have heard that your case shipped out of the NVC to Joberg.  If you have prior vaccination records, bring them, but honestly you can take care of them all in one appointment.  Now-husband didn't have any prior records, and we got it done.

 

Any further questions about the K1 process from ZA, feel free to reach out <3  Also, get that timeline started, it helps the community by contributing current data!

Edited March 3 by hplusj

[KCPT 1]

On 3/3/2025 at 6:36 AM, hplusj said:

1) my now-husband worked with Docassist to get a quote based on a variety of expedited timeframes for the PCC.  I won't give you our quote because it may have changed given current workloads, but worth looking into.  Suffice to say he was able to get his PCC in something like 3 weeks.

 

2) It'll be in Joberg, but you can do your medical in Cape Town.  Look up Dr. Marcus Brauer, he's the civil surgeon you need to see in the Cape.  Since we did the process last summer the trend has been that your medical needs to be 3+ weeks out from the interview in order for it to pass administrative processing.  Even then, it's no guarantee.  Luckily if you poke the embassy a bit after the interview they will connect the dots and bring the medical documentation to the surface.

 

3) Brauer's got you covered.  Just schedule your medical once you have heard that your case shipped out of the NVC to Joberg.  If you have prior vaccination records, bring them, but honestly you can take care of them all in one appointment.  Now-husband didn't have any prior records, and we got it done.

 

Any further questions about the K1 process from ZA, feel free to reach out ❤️ Also, get that timeline started, it helps the community by contributing current data!

Wow! Thanks for the information. Very informative and helpful! If I may ask, how long did you guys wait for your case to be transferred to Joburg? Our case has been at NVC for 6 weeks now and I'm trying to get a better idea on the timeline of things. 

[KCPT 1]

On 3/1/2025 at 12:17 AM, Lee Thacket said:

 

First thing with regard to vaccinations get an immunisation report from your doctor to check what is recorded in your medical records.

 

Unfortunately, my doctor had no record of my ever having had any childhood vaccinations.  

 

I was directed to have MMR, Tdap, Hepatitis B and varicella. The last one is waived if you have had a chickenpox. A number of other vaccines were deemed not to be age appropriate for me.

 

As @OldUser says once you have your immunisation record contact the panel physician. They often offer you missing vaccines on the day of your appointment, but that will probably be more expensive than getting them from your own doctor.

Thank you so much!! Very kind of you to reply. 

[hplusj 571]

On 3/25/2025 at 9:10 AM, KCPT said:

Wow! Thanks for the information. Very informative and helpful! If I may ask, how long did you guys wait for your case to be transferred to Joburg? Our case has been at NVC for 6 weeks now and I'm trying to get a better idea on the timeline of things. 

I've recorded everything on our timeline, including additional notes.  Our NVC status was extremely opaque and longer than I predicted.  Workloads are sent to the embassies every two weeks so it can take a while to see movement.  Between the two NOA2s we received (mhm) and finally getting word from Joberg, took about four months. 

 

This was also last summer, and given the refugee status for SA minorities applied by the current administration, things may have backed up a bit in the embassies.  Or, could mean your case moves out of NVC faster because of workload demand.  Very hard to say, not sure how the embassies are staffed these days.

Edited March 26 by hplusj

[hplusj 571]

A reminder that we would love your timeline recorded: please pay it forward and fill it out here! https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=485493

[KCPT 1]

On 3/26/2025 at 4:50 PM, hplusj said:

A reminder that we would love your timeline recorded: please pay it forward and fill it out here! https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=485493

I will definitely check out your timeline and fill one out. Thank you once again for responding and providing information. 

[hplusj 571]

7 hours ago, KCPT said:

I will definitely check out your timeline and fill one out. Thank you once again for responding and providing information. 

Amazing, we very much appreciate it!  Reach out any time with more questions.

[Birdsnest123 0]

You need 4 to 8 weeks to receive a PCC. This is based on going to the main central station in Cape Town, with the printed out proof of payment to the account mentioned if you google online, copy of passport and original to certify, copy of marriage certificate if you had a maiden name. Sometimes you can pay cash there. Depends on the day. They fingerprint you with ink there and you fill a form. They give you this stack of papers and you need ot arrange a courier to and from Pretoria. Citi-Sprint has a dedicated service to PCCs. R150 per trip. have done it 4 times since the I130 process is taking long. When you receive it, CHECK for any errors. If any, go back to where you fingerprinted and show it to the officer and ask for assistance, they will send an email to Pretoria to get it rectified. Each of my PCCs had error. 

[Birdsnest123 0]

On 3/26/2025 at 4:25 PM, hplusj said:

I've recorded everything on our timeline, including additional notes.  Our NVC status was extremely opaque and longer than I predicted.  Workloads are sent to the embassies every two weeks so it can take a while to see movement.  Between the two NOA2s we received (mhm) and finally getting word from Joberg, took about four months. 

 

This was also last summer, and given the refugee status for SA minorities applied by the current administration, things may have backed up a bit in the embassies.  Or, could mean your case moves out of NVC faster because of workload demand.  Very hard to say, not sure how the embassies are staffed these days.

 

On 3/26/2025 at 4:25 PM, hplusj said:

I've recorded everything on our timeline, including additional notes.  Our NVC status was extremely opaque and longer than I predicted.  Workloads are sent to the embassies every two weeks so it can take a while to see movement.  Between the two NOA2s we received (mhm) and finally getting word from Joberg, took about four months. 

 

This was also last summer, and given the refugee status for SA minorities applied by the current administration, things may have backed up a bit in the embassies.  Or, could mean your case moves out of NVC faster because of workload demand.  Very hard to say, not sure how the embassies are staffed these days.

Hi, I would like to understand what NOA2 is. I am trying to establish a timeline from being DQed to getting an IL from NVC with an interview date in Johannesburg currently for IR1. The most current info is not really available on any of the groups I searched. Have you stumbled accross any post that would give an idea about the recent immigrant visa app. waiting time in JHB?

Thanks a lot

[Oyoafin 0]

22 hours ago, Birdsnest123 said:

 

Hi, I would like to understand what NOA2 is. I am trying to establish a timeline from being DQed to getting an IL from NVC with an interview date in Johannesburg currently for IR1. The most current info is not really available on any of the groups I searched. Have you stumbled accross any post that would give an idea about the recent immigrant visa app. waiting time in JHB?

Thanks a lot

You can use the NVC IV scheduling tool. When were you Dq