tmac93

Hello skyxchef. My wife and I recently went through all of this just a couple of weeks ago. My wife lives 3 hours away from Santo Domingo so she took the bus the evening before and stayed with a relative. Our CITA was scheduled June 22nd so my wife went to the VAC at 7:30am on June 5th (two weeks before cita). She used a locker for her purse, etc. It took 25 minutes for photos and fingerprints for her and my daughters. She needed her cedula, passport (they place a stamp on the passport at the VAC that is needed for the embassy), a copy of the confirmation page of the DS-260 from online (mandatory...no way around not having this...my wife said folks were turned away if they did not have this). Since my daughters were with her, she also needed copies of their birth certificates along with their DS-260's. After the VAC appointment, she went to the medical exam. There are now two locations for medical exams, 1) Consultorios de Visa, www.consultoriosdevisa.com, located in Santo Domingo, on Avenida Independencia 254, corner with Danae street, sector de Gazcue, and 2) Servicios Médicos Consulares, www.smc.net.do, located in Santo Domingo, on Calle Bohechio # 17, Sector Bella Vista. Both are listed on the embassy website. We chose the 2nd one because it is newer and we thought not many people knew about it. Everyone still goes to the old location because that is what everyone had done before. Lucky for my wife & daughters!!! They arrived for the medical exam around 8:30am and all 3 were done by 11am. At this location, you do not need to bring photos, they take the photos onsite as a part of the exam cost. Only needed cedula, passport, copy of cita letter (and if kids, you need copy of their birth certificate along with their cita letters). Also, children always need a special TB test in the arm (adults get a chest xray for TB) so my wife had to return two days later so the doctors could confirm that their TB test were ok (of course they were). Medical exam with vaccinations were $289...always best to have a few dollars extra just in case. And payment is dollars (preferred) and pesos. Wife said one woman had to have her husband wire her money because she did not have enough while she waited for her exam. Also, they will do the vaccinations regardless of proof of prior vaccination because they say the US does not trust the quality of the prior vaccinations. I think it is just a ploy get money but oh well...seems to be a lot of that in this process! LOL!!! But upon completion of the medical exams, they received a sealed envelope for the consular to open. Do not open this envelope.

Then it is just a matter of waiting and preparing for your interview. Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope this helps.

My wife and daughters (8yr old twins) just went this morning to the new location in Santo Domingo for the medical exam. They arrived around 8:30am and were finished around 11:00am. The cost was pretty much the same as the old location because they required all vaccinations even though my wife had the twins vaccination records. The doctor said that they received "public hospital" vaccinations previously but they don't trust these vaccinations. So the girls (and my wife) had to have 4 to 5 shots each. Final cost was around $800 for exams, x-ray for my wife and vaccinations for all three. In addition, they required a copy the birth certificates and the girls were also given a tuberculosis test that requires my wife to return to the doctor on Monday for the results and to get the medical clearance. She lives in Puerto Plata! So she will miss another day of work so the doctor can confirm what we already know...the girls don't have TB. And she needs to take the birth certificates because she did not have them with her today because no one said she needed them when she called to ask what documents were needed. But the main benefit of the new location for the medical exam is that most people don't know about it so the wait is significantly shorter. We know someone who went to the old location for the medical exam, arrived at 8am and was not finished until 4pm....and this was for one person.