Jonathan and Tina

I have another few months before I can make the move to the States, but I just want to say how great the majority of this thread is. I started reading it and saw a couple of posts that gave me the jitters (the 'what have I done' response, and one poster who seemed to hate everything) but carrying on I remembered all the reasons ,apart from the obvious one, that I'm excited about going. I'm still worried about healthcare, and Tina's still worried I'll miss my paid holiday entitlement (possibly a valid point) but they seem pretty practical things and manageable. I like how most people's issues on this thread seem to revolve around food or the news, and nothing extremely major like not fitting in or being cripplingly homesick.

Looking forward to adding something here in not too long.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/549078-medical-to-interview-date-how-long-2015-data/

Check this thread out

That's the one Thanks.

Brilliant. Thank you. One quick extra question - is there a page somewhere on here to see how long it's presently taking London to turn things around? I can't track one down.

Hi. This is just a 'making totally sure' question.... is the following correct: London will not begin to schedule an interview until they have your readiness form and your medical results, whichever comes later. A relevant example: my medical is on October 5th. I can send my readiness form off anytime from now till then and it will make zero difference because nothing at all will happen until Knightsbridge send them my medical results. Correct?

Thanks.

So this one is sort of backwards but I've heard of people having problems coming to the UK with a K1 open so:

Tina (who is the American citizen of our pair) just came over to visit me here in the UK. I had read a few horror stories so she had a bunch of things with her: employer letter, official letters to her house, lease agreement, an amount of money in sterling that seemed enough but not too much for the trip, etc etc. Anyway as it turned out she was asked a few questions about her trip and our relationship and future plans, but the UKBA person seemed to relax when she heard about the K1 and our plans for me to move to the USA. I guess that made it less likely to her that Tina would just jump ship, so to speak, and never catch her return flight.

So no problems, basically, though it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We'll see what happens when I visit her in October....

Thanks folks. I was worrying over nothing. The package thing was just to try a way around the problem I invented...

Hi folks. So as most people probably know, the price for a one way ticket is near enough twice the price of a return. Google tells me that if you buy a return with no intent to use the second half, the airlines 'come after you'... is this a common thing? Also, has anyone done something like buying a package holiday and only using the first flight?

Thank you. If I'm understanding correctly, I don't actually need to physically receive anything from, or send anything to, London - I can do the whole thing online at this stage?

Hi there. I put our case number through the CEAC site and got this:

Your case is ready for your interview when scheduled at the U.S. Consular section. If you have already scheduled an appointment for an interview, please prepare your documents as directed in your appointment letter and appear at the consulate on the appointed date and time. Otherwise, please wait until you have been notified of your interview appointment. Additional information about how Immigrant Visa interview appointments are scheduled can be found at:http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3731.html

However I haven't had even a shred of paper from London yet. Is this normal? Also, that link does not work, which is super helpful.

Thanks folks.

Yes book it now so you get a good choice of dates in Sept. The medical receptionists don't know you haven't gotten your letter.

Excellent. Thank you.

If you will pick a date in Sept, then you get the "not flu season" waiver. You can hold off on your readiness form if you are afraid the interview will be while you are away. Where is your case now? Did you check with NVC?

Okay. I'm going to hopefully send the readiness form around Oct 5th, then I shouldn't get the interview scheduled while I'm away from the 10th to 26th.

We literally just got our LND case number as I type this (after the usual 45 minute NVC wait) so I can book the medical now, I believe, as I have both that and my police certificate. Though the NVC person did say our case is about to be sent to London but hasn't been sent yet, even though we have the new number - do you know if I can still book the medical?

Thank you for all your help. This whole site is indispensable.

Are you the one trying to slow down the process and interview later?

Well, not so much. There's just a couple of weeks mid-October where I wouldn't be there. I'm trying to schedule the medical mid-September to early-October and then get the interview basically anytime in November, with a bit of luck. So if they required you to have the flu jab before the medical that would limit my medical options, that's all. I'll be away that chunk in October and I want it done before then.

Yeah, I'm going to try to schedule the medical for early October. As long as I can just get one there, that's fine.

Just as it says.... I'm getting all the other vaccinations done before, but with the timing of when the flu shots are released over here it's going to make things pretty tight. Can you just get it done at the medical and if so does that slow anything down?

Thanks.

Hi, does anybody know for sure what they test for at your medical? I'm due to have some blood taken and if I can get it tested now to avoid another one then I figure why not. The Internet gives various answers.

Thanks folks. To anyone else wondering the same thing, Noddle is pretty awesome. Had everything I needed.

Anybody else struggle with this? I'm having a very hard time remembering the required information, and am on the verge of making some educated guesses. Anyone find a way to get their own address history without going to the extent of running a credit check on themselves? Or is it not even that important to get them exactly right beyond the last few years? I know probably the last six.

Thank you both. That's hugely helpful, and not a little reassuring.

Oh question two: for the third year back, currently, my fiancee was out of work and hence had no income, though her husband at the time did. So she has a transcript for that year showing money coming in, but as none of it was hers then obviously we can't use it (she earns more than enough now). Would it be best to just not send that one? Send that past two years without it? Or are they likely to just ask for it anyway?

Hi again. Sorry for the many questions (everything has been massively helpful so far). So our plan is to file for AOS in early Feb next year, assuming everything else goes according to plan time-wise, and use a tax return from this current year (that would have just become available) plus transcripts for the two years prior to that, as that's the best financial 'snapshot'. We could potentially wait and get a transcript for this current year but that would impair our plans somewhat so I'm wondering:

1. is there any point to doing this? Will USCIS accept a tax return, as long as we explain why they aren't all transcripts, and if they don't accept it will that mean we don't count as having filed within the 90 days (if that period expires during that time)? We'll still have W2s for the three years in question.

2. I did have another question but I can't remember it right now

Thanks.

Thanks folks. Just a couple more questions... (which I would post in the regional forum but I can't seem to find them at present)

1. Is it possible to request a 'blocking out' of certain weeks for your interview being scheduled? Surely this must be an option, say if you were a business person making multiple trips and wouldn't be in the UK in a certain week, etc.

2. How does the four week notice from the embassy work if you have less than four weeks till your interview, as it seems some people have? Do they just give you smaller period of notice?

Thanks for any reply, sorry if the answers are obvious.

Quickie question: does an e-ticket printout (essentially a printed email) qualify as proof of a return flight?

Thanks everyone. That clears things up... it does seem a little strange to spend 95% of your time wanting the days to go faster only to find yourself thinking, whoa there, that seems a little fast.

Does the embassy just give you a date? Do you have any leeway or ability to choose? I ask because we have a trip booked (me going to the States) in the third of our four months, which we still want to do, so I want to try to get an interview just after that if it's possible.

Hi guys and girls. A couple of questions that I'm sure have been asked before....

1. Does the 4 month time limit begin from the day your petition is approved, or when you actually get the letter (I-797)? We've had our status change to 'approved' online but haven't had the letter yet. It just seems like 4 months is a needlessly short amount of time to get all this done (medical, documents, etc) before you lose your opportunity to get a visa. Pretty worried about it.

2. Is it a time limit for getting the interview scheduled, or is it a time limit for actually having the interview and getting a visa?

3. Am I right in thinking that this time limit is ticking down even while you wait for USCIS to send documents to the NVC, for them to process it, for the NVC to send it to the embassy, for the embassy to process it.... because it seems like all that can potentially take a couple of months by itself, or even more in some cases. Are we really losing all that time? What happens if the NVC are unusually slow and they take three and a half months? Surely that can't be how it works.

Thank you to everyone who replied to me, much appreciated.

TJM that's absolutely awful. Rest assured what you went through will at least help others, including us in a couple of months. No way is she coming over without easily enough physical money.