LuckyTwo14

Hi everyone!I have an old xray film (january 31 2014).I am debating whether to bring it or not.It is normal,I do it yearly.If I bring it for comparison and they notice an odd abnormality against the old xray,i may do the sputum exam right?Do you think it will be safer to just leave the old xray result at home?Thanks a lot.

SLEC website says that only command sponsored type people (military, etc) must present "Old chest x-ray films taken 3 months prior to the medical examination, or older - if available"

It appears to be optional for all other visa applicants.

I do know SLEC uses their equipment and tests to determine any abnormalities. I have read they have an X-ray machine there that is very high quality and could detect things that lesser X-ray machines are incapable of.

Good luck!

Bad experience with City Garden Suites and directhotels.com. Made an online reservation and direct hotels sent the hotel 2 reservations within 2 seconds. Obviously I made one reservation, but was charged unknowingly for 2 rooms. The hotel didn't care. They said I made 2 reservations so nothing they can do, which is the easy answer to profit off of me. A nice place but lost our future business because of they double charged us and blamed me.

After completion of the DOT program you will have to pay a new medical fee then complete a new medical with vaccinations.

Last person that posted after completing the DOT program stated SLEC is not scheduling the appointments as there aren't any available. They are trying to grab an appointment date currently. Things could be back to normal in 6 months.

Is there info about the wait time between the 2 medical examinations? I've heard we have to wait 1 month after TB treatment is complete before SLEC will reexamine for granting medical clearance.

Hello, Is there a general timeline of events after the last TB tablet is taken through SLEC's DOT Program?

I plan to talk with SLEC directly about how soon the vaccinations can be taken after TB treatment and so on. I gather we essentially do medical all over again after the 6 months ...

Do we make the USEM appointment online or is that something SLEC does? I've heard SLEC calls the USEM and makes interview arrangements for fiancée to have interview a few days after medical clearance is granted.

Curious of any experiences you may be willing to share. thank you.

Hello, what is your budget? My wife is in the Cityland Manila Residence on Bocobo St. Directly across from St Lukes...it runs around 18000/month pesos, furnished...if you'd like I can get the realtors number for you....

Yes, thank you. That is in the ball park range of our budget.

Please recommend a trustworthy private living accommodation short walk to St Luke's for 6 months. Condo or apartment.

My fiance is an active smoker, not a daily smoker, but still a smoker. I've gotten her to quit, but only a few days before her medical exam style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/sad.gif

Unfortunately, she had an abnormality with her chest x-ray and is currently undergoing the 3-day sputum test. I'm curious if anybody who was an active smoker at the time of their medical exams experienced any problems with their sputum tests?

I'm sure she will be ok because she exercises, eats healthy, and usually gets plenty of rest. She is also only 22 years old, 5 foot tall and 95 pounds and doesn't have any symptoms of active TB and neither does anybody in her household.

If anybody is willing to share their experiences as well as their timeframes for their results, it would be greatly appreciated! Also, if there is an 8-10 week delay, do I need to remake all of my documents (required Packet 4 forms as well as proof of continuous relationship during those 8-10 weeks) for her interview?

Thank you in advance,

Brett

Tell me about illegals coming across the border... and how NOTHING is being done. What pictures?

You can rant about the DOT process, don't know if it will make you feel better though, it is what it is and it has to be completed before the "gold ring" can be grabbed.

I think it has made me feel better to write my thoughts down in this forum and to realize what is most important to me and that is moving to Manila to be with her. I don't particularly need to work and it seems more and more the best choice is to go there.

I appreciate you entertaining my rant Hank, lol. I don't have any pictures of the Mexican info I wrote other than media.

Most of us here don't disagree with your logic. But, having said that I would have to agree with Hank and his assessment. No one wants a pandemic to start in any country and not in the USA. Yes, some guys are not that committed to spend the time or money to support their Pinay during a very difficult time. I find that unpalatable to say the least. But when you need your significant other and they bail on you, then they are not worth the time to marry. Just my HO.

I think I'm just going to quit me job and move there, lol. Because she is worth it

In America we have about 1,000 Mexicans each day sneak in to America from our south border. Who knows what disease they bring ... Anyway they can become public charge financially to USA government and that's not really a problem. Both those things are show stoppers for the kind people of the Philippines who are coming to America.

My point is that the good few kind people of the Philippines could bring their bottle of tablets here and wear a mask and I think that would be ok because it's probably not that many cases.

Best of luck to all.

Sol_enn, best of luck with best result!

It's just the way CDC wants it done in recent years. What happens to those fiancees that are dumped because the sponsor doesn't want to wait? My guess is that because there is no longer financial support to live close to SLEC for 6 months then the ex-fiancée doesn't complete the DOT and no one cares.

It's just a huge waste of time (in my opinion) to live somewhere for 6 months just to take a tablet when the bottle of tablets could be taken in the USA. I really doubt the "positive" person would choose to flush the tablets down the toilet if entrusted to take the tablets on their own.

So, if someone is trying to save your life with the TB process, and to you it's a waste of time? Did you know that TB kills.

Yes, I think it's a waste of time to have someone live in a city for 7 months to spend 30 minutes a day to take a tablet once a day, or Monday through Friday excluding holidays. I'm capable of giving my fiancée 1 of 120 tablets each day here in the USA. Believe me we have that kind of service here.

The PI is just following the WHO and CDC protocols because of the visa. If the country really cared then it wouldn't take a visa process to detect and "cure" it.

Thanks Hank, that is what I suspected as well. Perhaps completing the TB treatment early in the relationship and before the visa medical appointment is something SLEC would consider as long as it was well documented.

Our presumption was just that all was clear so didn't even think it was a problem, especially with clear skin test and clear X-ray a year prior as it was required of her job.

Oh well, it is what it is ... the process.

Good luck. SLEC called us 3 weeks after negative sputum and now fiancée started 6 months of Direct Treatment Observation (DTO). SLEC watches them take a tablet Monday through Friday, no holidays.

Sputum culture 2 month test is about 85% accurate. 15% of positive sputum is false positive.

Chances are that if you have to do sputum then you are going to have to do the treatment and you become healthy and a success statistic for the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control TB Elimination Program so another person with no symptoms is "cured"

Approximately 1 in 385 Philippine citizens have TB. Whether it's active with cough or latent doesn't matter. SLEC will quarantine to the country.

Good luck. SLEC called us 3 weeks after negative sputum and now fiancée started 6 months of Direct Treatment Observation (DTO). SLEC watches them take a tablet Monday through Friday, no holidays.

Sputum culture 2 month test is about 85% accurate. 15% of positive sputum is false positive.

Chances are that if you have to do sputum then you are going to have to do the treatment and you become healthy and a success statistic for the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control TB Elimination Program so another person with no symptoms is "cured"

Approximately 1 in 385 Philippine citizens have TB. Whether it's active with cough or latent doesn't matter. SLEC will quarantine to the country.

Good luck. SLEC called us 3 weeks after negative sputum and now fiancée started 6 months of Direct Treatment Observation (DTO). SLEC watches them take a tablet Monday through Friday, no holidays.

Sputum culture 2 month test is about 85% accurate. 15% of positive sputum is false positive.

Chances are that if you have to do sputum then you are going to have to do the treatment so you can become a success statistic for the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control TB Elimination Program so another person with no symptoms is "cured"

You might want to consider consulting a physician now about starting the tablet now to possibly save yourself some waiting time later.

Approximately 1 in 385 Philippine citizens have TB. Whether it's active with cough or latent doesn't matter. SLEC will quarantine to the country.

That would be ideal since my husband already put us in his insurance and we always pay out of pocket for medical stuff here.

But of course, the best situation for me is to not have TB so my daughter won't be at risk of catching anything. Her health is top priority.

The World Health Organization reports approximately 1 in every 385 Philippine citizens have TB. You should be fine, especially if nothing raises a flag at the X-ray machine.

I wish to file a complain from this particular person who is an admin of various visa journey on Facebook. She is threatening me that she has a connection at SLEC and will automatically put me to undergo sputum. Her co admin also verified that she really has a connection there. I'm guessing that it might be someone who works there related to her.

I been looking at the SLEC Website but can't find the exact place to complain. I am still waiting for my NOA2.

thank you in advance.

Consider leaving that Visa Facebook group and joining another. There are a few to choose from.

The SLEC doctors do their best to detect and treat TB. If they order sputum then you do sputum.

I also have a 2mo old daughter so me having TB would be disastrous.

You and your daughter are most likely fine.

There is the USCIS form I-601 that has 2 pages dedicated to gathering TB information that could result in a waiver to unquarentene from the PI and take the tablets in the USA. All USA towns or regions have a Health and Human Services office that can monitor the treatment similar to the SLEC's Direct Observation Treatment.

A few observations: First the SLEC x-ray machine is more sensitive than the ones most doctors in the Philippines have, so they may say clean while SLEC says otherwise. If you fail you fail. Of course none of us want that, but there is simply nothing you can think, do or say to prevent a failed xray. The sterile milk does nothing, no matter how much you drink. Just go there and hope for the best. Most applicants pass the xray.

Xray as TB screening is a pretty dirty test, meaning it gives a lot of false positives. I had bronchitis last winter, which left enough scar tissue to cover the head of a pin. I would probably fail the xray test for that reason. But they do the xray test because it is fast and easy and clears most people in one day.

The real test is sputum, but that is nasty and takes 2 months for results, so you only get that one if xray does not clear you. This test does not lie. If this test is positive, you have TB. Bad news for your visa but very good news for your health that it was found. TB is fatal if left untreated. Nobody wants a six month delay in their visa to get treated for TB, but it is a vast improvement over dying. So if you have TB, try to not focus on the six month delay in getting to America. Think instead of how good it will be to stay alive long enough to enjoy your new life in America.

You will most likely be fine. Maybe you can get in to medical soon to get the results completed and then you'll know for sure.

Sputum test has numerous cases of false positives written in American medical journals such as the Journal of Clinical Microbology. It's not 100 percent (85% generally), but it is what SLEC uses to comply with the CDC's immigration instruction. Personally I'd rather my fiancée take the tablets here in America as 10's of thousands of people do every year.

We are going through the TB positive treatment now. It's for her health and our future. So maybe just think of it that way.

A PPD skin test should be very cheap. The challenge is the x-ray. If you clear that you can proceed on of course, although I can't imagine that catches every active TB patient. I'd recommend that sputum test for anyone at there final deatination country because our loved ones are coming from an area where TB is common. Also, there is much wrtitten too that there is a 15 percent false positive for the positive sputum test. Meaning line 100 positive tested people up here in the USA and there is a chance approximately 15 aren't TB positive. Their sputum looked positive, but isn't.

In addition, the Center of Disease Control is the guiding the screening process with their world-wide Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. We all want a World free of TB.

I've heard the sterilized milk is helpful in some way going to the x-ray although I don't have any first hand knowledge of success or failure of that.

All in all relax, it's in God's hands. Rejoice if clear or be strong to the challenge if delayed.

Update: I finished my sputum test last May 26-28 and got my smear result: negative yesterday, June 4. While the nurse giving me info for 2 months wait she gave me a piece of paper with the date and time when I should come back (July 25, 8am - 2nd floor for re-evaluation) I asked her if I need to call them for the result like I heard from most of the applicants, she said no need and that applies to others. She also said if everything went fine on my culture test, I will get my vaccinations done on the same day.

Does anyone know if that's a new guidelines from SLEC? no need to call them instead be there on the given date and time for culture result.

Totally confused.

We received a call from SLEC 3 weeks after negative initial sputum test and was told to report back to SLEC. The sputum turned positive. So my advice is be prepared if the news is good or bad. We are devastated, but there's no way around this one. So we are blessed her health will be clear and we joke now to ease the separation pain.

There is the I-601 process where USCIS gives permission to the USEM to waiver the TB treatment and to then take the treatment in USA. That application process costs nearly $600 and appears to be lengthy to the point where the red tape adds up to more time than just taking the initial treatment.

The US CDC will just flat out say no way without any reference to that waiver process. The CDC's Tuberculosis Elimination program drives this train.

We've heard no call from SLEC for 2 months is good news ... don't know about the predetermined report back date.

Wishing everyone the best of luck at guessing a time to refresh that gets you an appointment soon. Fortunately I think we won't have to endure that as I've read St Luke's and the USEM coordinate an interview after we complete our regimen of TB tablets and further testing. I'm so grateful St Luke's decided to give her a sputum test.

Yep, looks like USEM went as far as July 11th today.

Doesn't seem to be anything past July 11th