alala23

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are close to the end of our journey, but with our interview in just 9 days, we've had to face another major road block. We are the end of our ropes, and both of us have started to accrue the symptoms of depression.

On the 25th July, I had my medical done at CityMedin Auckland (3 weeks before my visa interview scheduled on August 14). Everything went well on the day. On Wednesday I receive a phone call saying the doctor may need me to do another X-ray. The nurse asked me if I had TB before, and I've never had it (nor have any symptoms) so I of course denied it. She told me there was some mind scarring on my left lung which could indicate past TB. I strongly feel that this could be because of my smoking habits a couple years ago. I used to be a chain smoker but haven't smoked in a year.

So, yesterday when I called, the nurse informed me that the doctor has cursed me to the worst test of all time: the infamous Sputum test for AFB (acid fast baccille) and culture, testing for TB.

Now, here is the problem:

I have spent hours and hours and hours reading about this test, and people everywhere mention that while the AFB part of this test is quick and simple, the "culture" part takes 6-8 weeks. This is EVERYWHERE.

On VisaJourney (mostly all St. Lukes/Philippines)

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=visajourney+sputum+6+weeks+site:www.visajourney.com&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=720

On the TB guide for US Panel Physicians by the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/pdf/tuberculosis-ti-2009.pdf

You will find words like "6-8 weeks", "upto 6 weeks", "at least 6 weeks" mentioned everywhere.

So the DELIMMA:

I first talked to the nurse and asked her how long this would take, and she used words like "instant" and "instantaneous". I then talked to the lab technician who gave me the sputum sample boxes and asked her. "3 working days", she said. Unsure of this, today I saw the same lab technician when I went to hand in my sample, and she once again assured me of this.

ME: I know you said that it takes 3-4 working days yesterday, but are you really sure about this? Because it's culture for TB, not just the AFB part. From everywhere I read online it seems to take 6-8 weeks.

LAB TECHNICIAN: Yes, I'm sure, yes. It takes 3-4 working days. TB culture, yes. You shouldn't believe everything you read online.

WHAT?!?!?!

Unless NZ has obtained a new type of culture test (possible), I am shocked that she's telling me that the culture test for TB only takes 3 working days.

You may feel that I am overthinking this and I should just wait and see instead of posting on VJ, but here's the deal:

This little piece of information affects everything. My visa interview is in 9 days, so it affects whether or not they'll get the results in time (or if not in time, if just a few days here and there VS 6 weeks here and there). It affects whether they need to postpone the interview or have it anyway and wait for the results. It affects my wife who's been waiting for 13 months with me in this part of the world, and is pregnant - we are unsure if she should go back alone before me. And it affects my life and work over the next 2 months, because I do not currently have a job (I don't live in Auckland so we are staying in a motel - costly!) - and how/where would I able to work if I am sure about how long and in which country I'll be in.

TLDR; My sputum test, CityMed says, is going to take 3-4 working days including culture. Has anyone ever experienced this? Has anyone ever had a sputum test done within 3-4 days, including culture?

Thank you in advance!

Hi guys,

I just wanted to thank everyone at VisaJourney for being so helpful and supportive -- it has truly helped my wife and I cope through the process.

Today I had my medical examination in Auckland at CityMed. Everything went super well - got examined by the nurse first, then the doctor, then had to take 3 vaccines for measles, tetanus and influenza, and then X-Ray, and finally blood test.

One thing I had to admit to when the doctor was asking me questions for the DS-2053 was that I had malaria at 5 in Uganda. I was of course treated and have had no recurrences, I told her that. In the end she sounded quite positive, but I did note that she classified me as "Class B" and made a note in "Other" about my past history with malaria on the DS-2053 (she also did make a note that I was treated and have had no recurrences).

Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but I'm hoping admitting to malaria and being classified as Class B doesn't have any kind of an impact on my medical?

Does anyone have any experiences with being a class B with their medical but getting through without any impact whatsoever?

Thanks so much,

Sid

Woohoo, we received our appointment letter today! Our interview is on August 14th

7/2/2014: Case complete

7/11/2014: Appointment letter received

8/14/2014: Interview date

congratulation,

Can you please tell What was the date your package scanned at NVC

- April 28 - IV and AOS package was delivered to the NVC

- May 22 - Received checklist from NVC, sent package with corrections 1 day later

- May 28 - NVC says they received our checklist response

- July 2 - Case complete

Upon noticing the N/A change on AOS fee, my wife and I were ecstatic to call and confirm our NVC case complete today! We're SOOOO HAPPY!!!!

Any NZ filers waiting on or have any idea how long it takes to get an interview date?

Today we received our first NVC checklist.

My wife, the primary sponsor, received the following:

We're extremely perplexed because we did include a 2013 W-2 with her I-864.

My question is, since it only asks us to resubmit the W-2, do we also need to re-submit a new I-864? Or do we just include the W-2 with a barcode cover sheet?

Additionally, her father (joint sponsor) received a checklist pointing out a line in the i-864. In his case, when we resubmit the I-864, do we also need to include his W-2s and 1099s again?

Thank you so much for your help!

Thanks guys!

The NOA2 was sent to my wife's address in America, which she still has on file with the USCIS and NVC. Looks like the best option is for my wife's father and her to be joint sponsor, and her mother to supplement an I-864A (since she filed her taxes jointly with my wife's father).

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on the following:

- I married my wife, a US citizen, in July 2013 in New Zealand. We filed I-130 in August 2013, received NOA-2 in February, and now have been assigned a NVC case number.

- I'm from New Zealand, but both my wife and I are currently in Australia. She's on a 1 year working holiday visa. We thought this would be the best way to stay together while my visa processing.

- She is not working at the moment. Her father, who lives with her in America, is willing to help me out with my I-184 as either a joint sponsor or by filling out an I-1864a.

- I'm very confused about the difference between the I-1864a and joint sponsorship. We essentially need my wife's father's income to cover my requirements. But what's the best option for us?

- It looks like to me like the best option is joint sponsorship, but I was wondering if there are any guidelines for that. Does he (joint sponsor) have to be related to me? Does he has to be living in the same house as my wife?

- Additionally: if we go the joint sponsorship route, we are unsure about which address to put for my wife, because she's here in Australia only temporarily. Should both the mailing address and residence address be her American address, or should we put down her American address for mailing and our temp Australian address for residence? How will this impact us?

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for posting this!

Based on the information provided, I was able to do a little more "grunt work" and record NOA2 approval dates for some random receipt numbers in the ZZZZ gaps.

Here it is: http://i.imgur.com/JZl146G.png

My wife and I got married in NZ in July, and both of us are here right now waiting for this thing to get through. We got our NOA1 on August 6, 2013. Doing this analysis really helped us estimate certain timelines since we were feeling down after seeing the "10 month" estimates.

If anyone has more information, or wants to collaborate on more such grunt work, please PM me!