nifiance

you are a UK citizen. I know lots of canadians in the same boat and went back to canada to have the baby. unfortunately, medicare is EXPENSIVE and it c ould cost you and your hustband 10k. i know situations happen, but you should have realized this and understood americans do not have free health care:/ 

Pregnant women can get medicaid. Its emergency medicaid- no problem for AOS.
 
Contact your local social services office to apply.
 
Ignore the comments that judge or state you do not qualify or theres no such thing. Plenty of threads on VJ about this topic with links to applicable laws.

I'm aware its why I followed your timeline, you dont find many people from AL here it seems so i just wanted to keep tabs on how things will progress for you to give myself an idea what to expect. Indeed good luck to us
 

I'm in AL too! Good luck to us!

We sent our package on the 14th, it was signed for in the 20th and we just received the text notification today. 
 
Relief!

Just thought I'd share my medical experience on here, in case anyone (like I did), spent ages googling it before the big day.
I flew from Belfast to London Luton on the 7.00am flight, and then boarded a Greenline Bus that took me right down to Baker Street, from where it was a ten minute walk to Bentinck Street. I'd advise taking the Greenline, it's pretty cheap at only £17 for a return journey, although be aware it doesn't pick you up at the same place for the return journey. It's not even Baker Street, it's outside the Allsop Arms on Gloucester Square but it's not a long walk. Also be aware the drivers are kind of unpleasant, if you don't get on the bus immediately the like to yell at you. It gives them a sense of purpose.
So it's a pretty ordinary looking building, white brick, steps leading up to a big brown door with golden handles. As my flight and bus got me there for about 9am and my appointment wasn't til 13:50, I had a lot of time to kill. Oxford Street and Soho aren't far away, so it was nice to do a little Christmas recon in the city. Although to be honest I was too nervous to really enjoy it. Got a pretty sub par scone in Debenhams, so I wasn't happy about that. Could have used a glass of wine to be honest, but didn't want my blood test to read of anything alcoholic, but since I'm northern Irish, my blood's probably about 47% whiskey anyway.
After much walking, I arrived back at Bentinck Street at about 12, knowing I was super early. I pressed the buzzer for apartment 4 and the door opened. When I went in and spoke to the receptionist, she was a bit wary at letting me wait there as I was so early, but I explained how I'd flown from Belfast and had already wandered as much as I wanted to and really would like to just sit and wait, where I could read my book. My feet were sore, not to mention I've been on night shift all week and was bloody shattered.
So wait I did. Chatted with a nice couple moving to Texas, and a girl moving to Rhode Island. At about 13:30 I went to check in. The receptionist was very pleasant, and I handed over all my documentation (police certificate, vaccination records, questionnaire, passport and photos). She sorted it all out. They gave me a pot for a urine sample and a questionnaire not unlike the one I filled in that was downloaded off the embassy website. The questionnaire comes on a clipboard, with one of your photos stapled to it. You only have to fill out the first two pages. The first page is only a half page about your vaccinations and whether you've had chicken pox (as that vaccine isn't ordinarily available in the U.K.). The main questionnaire, as I've said, is very similar to the one you've already filled out, it's just a little more extensive, particularly around the mental health (one question was 'Have you ever had thoughts about harming yourself?' And then 'Have you ever acted on these thoughts'). I remember reading somewhere before about there being a question that says "does the subject look as if they are lying". Not there. The only thing of similarity was a statement saying something along the lines of "do they appear to be giving reliable information". So I filled out the questionnaire, at the very bottom there's a bit that says to list any medication you're currently on. I'm taking antibiotics at the moment for a kidney infection so I included this. Better to err on the side of caution, in case anything comes up in the blood or urine sample. And with that, I handed everything in.
A few moments later a nurse called my name. I'd seen this happen with the other couple from Texas, and it had taken a while, so I gathered up my bag and coat only for the nurse to stop me just outside the door and tell me that all my vaccinations were up to date and I needed none (I'm super organised- also everything on the NHS is free, so I'm also kind of frugal).
After another ten minute wait, the X ray technician called me in. He was a lovely gentleman, putting you at ease right away. In the corner of the room is a little chair and you take off your top half clothes, bra and all, and are given a gown to wear. Then you get your chest x ray. And oh no, it isn't enough to just stand in front of the black plate, you have to properly smoosh your boobs right up against it, put your hands on your hips like you're Wonder Woman about to perform the Time Warp. Then he draws the curtain around you again and tells you to put your bra back on, and then the gown over it. He was a lovely, chatty man and definitely made me feel much more at ease. When I came out after getting as redressed as I could, he was looking at my X ray on a computer screen. I asked him did everything look okay and he said from as far as he could see yes. Then I asked what the big blob was on the right side of my rib cage.
Yeah Linda, that'd be your heart, genius. At least it gave him a chuckle. No home schooling for your kids.
Then he shows you into this tiny waiting room with a big window that looks right on to a couple of barber shops. Thank god I had the gown sufficiently closed or someone could have got an ear lobbed off.
This was the place I got most nervous. You're on your own and it's a very small room, I started feeling kind of claustrophobic the longer I was waiting. The first young woman I'd been talking to (Rhode Island) was waiting there too, so it wasn't so bad until she got called off by the doctor. That was when the nerves really kicked in. I waited maybe half an hour staring at that barber shop window, until the doctor came in and called my name.
She's very formal, all business. No joking around with this one. Not even a smile once you get into her office. She sits behind her desk and you sit in front of her like an errant child, while you get the questions about heart and kidney disease, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, and STD's. I said no to everything, but mentioned thrush (let's be honest girls, who hasn't had it) but she said it was irrelevant. Then I mentioned the antibiotics for my kidney infection, but it was irrelevant too. She measured my height and weight (which was exciting as I'd lost 2kg since I'd filled in my paperwork), and eyesight. I wear glasses some of the time, so she got me to put them on and put one hand over my eye and read a line... same again for other eye... all fine.
Okay, now if you would just sit up on the bed.... this is the bit where you stare forward while she checks your eyes, ears and throat. I have a tiny skin tag on my ear that she queried, but I just said it had always been there. I'd be kinda prone to skin tags. So that's all good. Then you gotta take off your jeans/skirt/whatever and lie on the bed. Thankfully the gown is pretty long. I was also grateful I'd had the presence of mine to put on matching underwear that morning.
When you're lying there, she checks the glands in your neck. Then she listens to you breathe, putting the stethoscope on your chest, under your bust, actually fully on your ####### at one stage which I thought was weird but I'm not a doctor, so hey. Then you sit up and she gets you to breathe in etc while she checks your breathing again, then lie back down so she can have a squeeze round your tummy. Her bedside manner is brusque, but she's good. She does a blood test after she checks your arms.
As she was doing all that, she asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I said I had, to which she replied "Oh, did I miss that in the paperwork?" Cue me, horribly embarrassed: "No, I don't take any medication for it, but I actually brought a letter if you want to see it?" She said she would, and then she left me lying there to go and write something down. I'm assuming it was just the PCOS stuff. Then when she came back, she just lifted the band of my panties and looked down, literally a second, then I could get dressed again. Thank the goddesses. I was worried it would be a whole "just give me a minute while I put on a hat with a light on it and have a good look down there".
So I got dressed, sat back down and showed her the diagnosis letter about my PCOS. She said in her opinion I should be on medication, but she could see as per the letter that I was maintaining the condition through diet and exercise. But it's okay, not to worry, everything is in order. I can go back into the main waiting room.
Phew. After all the tiny waiting rooms and examination rooms, I felt like I'd just walked out on to the top of Everest. After a few minutes, the receptionist calls you over. You get all your documentation back. You pay the bill. They staple the receipt to a page of FAQs (questions like 'When will my results be back?', and vaccination based questions). I'd strongly advise you to get the vaccinations before you have your medical. I also got a vaccination documentation worksheet. It lists all the vaccinations, dates the ones I've had and any reasons for waiver (not age appropriate, not routinely available). Then on remarks it reads "This K-non immigrant applicant did receive the required vaccines and the US vaccination requirements are complete for this applicant".
Like I said, get your vaccines. It's free til you leave the UK, and we've enough to pay for with this whole process.
Then they just tell you if there's anything else they need, they'll be in touch. It takes 4-5 days for your results to come in, and if everything's okay they just courier it to the embassy. So basically if I hear nothing by next Wednesday I'm good to go.
So now, £290 lighter and my dignity mainly intact, I get to leave Bentinck Street, run for the bus and narrowly make my flight back to Northern Ireland, where my car awaits me, frozen solid.
I hope this helps anyone else out there doing the same thing. If ever you need someone to talk to, advice or simply how to pose correctly like Wonder Woman, give me a shout.

Just thought I'd share my medical experience on here, in case anyone (like I did), spent ages googling it before the big day.
I flew from Belfast to London Luton on the 7.00am flight, and then boarded a Greenline Bus that took me right down to Baker Street, from where it was a ten minute walk to Bentinck Street. I'd advise taking the Greenline, it's pretty cheap at only £17 for a return journey, although be aware it doesn't pick you up at the same place for the return journey. It's not even Baker Street, it's outside the Allsop Arms on Gloucester Square but it's not a long walk. Also be aware the drivers are kind of unpleasant, if you don't get on the bus immediately the like to yell at you. It gives them a sense of purpose.
So it's a pretty ordinary looking building, white brick, steps leading up to a big brown door with golden handles. As my flight and bus got me there for about 9am and my appointment wasn't til 13:50, I had a lot of time to kill. Oxford Street and Soho aren't far away, so it was nice to do a little Christmas recon in the city. Although to be honest I was too nervous to really enjoy it. Got a pretty sub par scone in Debenhams, so I wasn't happy about that. Could have used a glass of wine to be honest, but didn't want my blood test to read of anything alcoholic, but since I'm northern Irish, my blood's probably about 47% whiskey anyway.
After much walking, I arrived back at Bentinck Street at about 12, knowing I was super early. I pressed the buzzer for apartment 4 and the door opened. When I went in and spoke to the receptionist, she was a bit wary at letting me wait there as I was so early, but I explained how I'd flown from Belfast and had already wandered as much as I wanted to and really would like to just sit and wait, where I could read my book. My feet were sore, not to mention I've been on night shift all week and was bloody shattered.
So wait I did. Chatted with a nice couple moving to Texas, and a girl moving to Rhode Island. At about 13:30 I went to check in. The receptionist was very pleasant, and I handed over all my documentation (police certificate, vaccination records, questionnaire, passport and photos). She sorted it all out. They gave me a pot for a urine sample and a questionnaire not unlike the one I filled in that was downloaded off the embassy website. The questionnaire comes on a clipboard, with one of your photos stapled to it. You only have to fill out the first two pages. The first page is only a half page about your vaccinations and whether you've had chicken pox (as that vaccine isn't ordinarily available in the U.K.). The main questionnaire, as I've said, is very similar to the one you've already filled out, it's just a little more extensive, particularly around the mental health (one question was 'Have you ever had thoughts about harming yourself?' And then 'Have you ever acted on these thoughts'). I remember reading somewhere before about there being a question that says "does the subject look as if they are lying". Not there. The only thing of similarity was a statement saying something along the lines of "do they appear to be giving reliable information". So I filled out the questionnaire, at the very bottom there's a bit that says to list any medication you're currently on. I'm taking antibiotics at the moment for a kidney infection so I included this. Better to err on the side of caution, in case anything comes up in the blood or urine sample. And with that, I handed everything in.
A few moments later a nurse called my name. I'd seen this happen with the other couple from Texas, and it had taken a while, so I gathered up my bag and coat only for the nurse to stop me just outside the door and tell me that all my vaccinations were up to date and I needed none (I'm super organised- also everything on the NHS is free, so I'm also kind of frugal).
After another ten minute wait, the X ray technician called me in. He was a lovely gentleman, putting you at ease right away. In the corner of the room is a little chair and you take off your top half clothes, bra and all, and are given a gown to wear. Then you get your chest x ray. And oh no, it isn't enough to just stand in front of the black plate, you have to properly smoosh your boobs right up against it, put your hands on your hips like you're Wonder Woman about to perform the Time Warp. Then he draws the curtain around you again and tells you to put your bra back on, and then the gown over it. He was a lovely, chatty man and definitely made me feel much more at ease. When I came out after getting as redressed as I could, he was looking at my X ray on a computer screen. I asked him did everything look okay and he said from as far as he could see yes. Then I asked what the big blob was on the right side of my rib cage.
Yeah Linda, that'd be your heart, genius. At least it gave him a chuckle. No home schooling for your kids.
Then he shows you into this tiny waiting room with a big window that looks right on to a couple of barber shops. Thank god I had the gown sufficiently closed or someone could have got an ear lobbed off.
This was the place I got most nervous. You're on your own and it's a very small room, I started feeling kind of claustrophobic the longer I was waiting. The first young woman I'd been talking to (Rhode Island) was waiting there too, so it wasn't so bad until she got called off by the doctor. That was when the nerves really kicked in. I waited maybe half an hour staring at that barber shop window, until the doctor came in and called my name.
She's very formal, all business. No joking around with this one. Not even a smile once you get into her office. She sits behind her desk and you sit in front of her like an errant child, while you get the questions about heart and kidney disease, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, and STD's. I said no to everything, but mentioned thrush (let's be honest girls, who hasn't had it) but she said it was irrelevant. Then I mentioned the antibiotics for my kidney infection, but it was irrelevant too. She measured my height and weight (which was exciting as I'd lost 2kg since I'd filled in my paperwork), and eyesight. I wear glasses some of the time, so she got me to put them on and put one hand over my eye and read a line... same again for other eye... all fine.
Okay, now if you would just sit up on the bed.... this is the bit where you stare forward while she checks your eyes, ears and throat. I have a tiny skin tag on my ear that she queried, but I just said it had always been there. I'd be kinda prone to skin tags. So that's all good. Then you gotta take off your jeans/skirt/whatever and lie on the bed. Thankfully the gown is pretty long. I was also grateful I'd had the presence of mine to put on matching underwear that morning.
When you're lying there, she checks the glands in your neck. Then she listens to you breathe, putting the stethoscope on your chest, under your bust, actually fully on your ####### at one stage which I thought was weird but I'm not a doctor, so hey. Then you sit up and she gets you to breathe in etc while she checks your breathing again, then lie back down so she can have a squeeze round your tummy. Her bedside manner is brusque, but she's good. She does a blood test after she checks your arms.
As she was doing all that, she asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I said I had, to which she replied "Oh, did I miss that in the paperwork?" Cue me, horribly embarrassed: "No, I don't take any medication for it, but I actually brought a letter if you want to see it?" She said she would, and then she left me lying there to go and write something down. I'm assuming it was just the PCOS stuff. Then when she came back, she just lifted the band of my panties and looked down, literally a second, then I could get dressed again. Thank the goddesses. I was worried it would be a whole "just give me a minute while I put on a hat with a light on it and have a good look down there".
So I got dressed, sat back down and showed her the diagnosis letter about my PCOS. She said in her opinion I should be on medication, but she could see as per the letter that I was maintaining the condition through diet and exercise. But it's okay, not to worry, everything is in order. I can go back into the main waiting room.
Phew. After all the tiny waiting rooms and examination rooms, I felt like I'd just walked out on to the top of Everest. After a few minutes, the receptionist calls you over. You get all your documentation back. You pay the bill. They staple the receipt to a page of FAQs (questions like 'When will my results be back?', and vaccination based questions). I'd strongly advise you to get the vaccinations before you have your medical. I also got a vaccination documentation worksheet. It lists all the vaccinations, dates the ones I've had and any reasons for waiver (not age appropriate, not routinely available). Then on remarks it reads "This K-non immigrant applicant did receive the required vaccines and the US vaccination requirements are complete for this applicant".
Like I said, get your vaccines. It's free til you leave the UK, and we've enough to pay for with this whole process.
Then they just tell you if there's anything else they need, they'll be in touch. It takes 4-5 days for your results to come in, and if everything's okay they just courier it to the embassy. So basically if I hear nothing by next Wednesday I'm good to go.
So now, £290 lighter and my dignity mainly intact, I get to leave Bentinck Street, run for the bus and narrowly make my flight back to Northern Ireland, where my car awaits me, frozen solid.
I hope this helps anyone else out there doing the same thing. If ever you need someone to talk to, advice or simply how to pose correctly like Wonder Woman, give me a shout.

Just thought I'd share my medical experience on here, in case anyone (like I did), spent ages googling it before the big day.
I flew from Belfast to London Luton on the 7.00am flight, and then boarded a Greenline Bus that took me right down to Baker Street, from where it was a ten minute walk to Bentinck Street. I'd advise taking the Greenline, it's pretty cheap at only £17 for a return journey, although be aware it doesn't pick you up at the same place for the return journey. It's not even Baker Street, it's outside the Allsop Arms on Gloucester Square but it's not a long walk. Also be aware the drivers are kind of unpleasant, if you don't get on the bus immediately the like to yell at you. It gives them a sense of purpose.
So it's a pretty ordinary looking building, white brick, steps leading up to a big brown door with golden handles. As my flight and bus got me there for about 9am and my appointment wasn't til 13:50, I had a lot of time to kill. Oxford Street and Soho aren't far away, so it was nice to do a little Christmas recon in the city. Although to be honest I was too nervous to really enjoy it. Got a pretty sub par scone in Debenhams, so I wasn't happy about that. Could have used a glass of wine to be honest, but didn't want my blood test to read of anything alcoholic, but since I'm northern Irish, my blood's probably about 47% whiskey anyway.
After much walking, I arrived back at Bentinck Street at about 12, knowing I was super early. I pressed the buzzer for apartment 4 and the door opened. When I went in and spoke to the receptionist, she was a bit wary at letting me wait there as I was so early, but I explained how I'd flown from Belfast and had already wandered as much as I wanted to and really would like to just sit and wait, where I could read my book. My feet were sore, not to mention I've been on night shift all week and was bloody shattered.
So wait I did. Chatted with a nice couple moving to Texas, and a girl moving to Rhode Island. At about 13:30 I went to check in. The receptionist was very pleasant, and I handed over all my documentation (police certificate, vaccination records, questionnaire, passport and photos). She sorted it all out. They gave me a pot for a urine sample and a questionnaire not unlike the one I filled in that was downloaded off the embassy website. The questionnaire comes on a clipboard, with one of your photos stapled to it. You only have to fill out the first two pages. The first page is only a half page about your vaccinations and whether you've had chicken pox (as that vaccine isn't ordinarily available in the U.K.). The main questionnaire, as I've said, is very similar to the one you've already filled out, it's just a little more extensive, particularly around the mental health (one question was 'Have you ever had thoughts about harming yourself?' And then 'Have you ever acted on these thoughts'). I remember reading somewhere before about there being a question that says "does the subject look as if they are lying". Not there. The only thing of similarity was a statement saying something along the lines of "do they appear to be giving reliable information". So I filled out the questionnaire, at the very bottom there's a bit that says to list any medication you're currently on. I'm taking antibiotics at the moment for a kidney infection so I included this. Better to err on the side of caution, in case anything comes up in the blood or urine sample. And with that, I handed everything in.
A few moments later a nurse called my name. I'd seen this happen with the other couple from Texas, and it had taken a while, so I gathered up my bag and coat only for the nurse to stop me just outside the door and tell me that all my vaccinations were up to date and I needed none (I'm super organised- also everything on the NHS is free, so I'm also kind of frugal).
After another ten minute wait, the X ray technician called me in. He was a lovely gentleman, putting you at ease right away. In the corner of the room is a little chair and you take off your top half clothes, bra and all, and are given a gown to wear. Then you get your chest x ray. And oh no, it isn't enough to just stand in front of the black plate, you have to properly smoosh your boobs right up against it, put your hands on your hips like you're Wonder Woman about to perform the Time Warp. Then he draws the curtain around you again and tells you to put your bra back on, and then the gown over it. He was a lovely, chatty man and definitely made me feel much more at ease. When I came out after getting as redressed as I could, he was looking at my X ray on a computer screen. I asked him did everything look okay and he said from as far as he could see yes. Then I asked what the big blob was on the right side of my rib cage.
Yeah Linda, that'd be your heart, genius. At least it gave him a chuckle. No home schooling for your kids.
Then he shows you into this tiny waiting room with a big window that looks right on to a couple of barber shops. Thank god I had the gown sufficiently closed or someone could have got an ear lobbed off.
This was the place I got most nervous. You're on your own and it's a very small room, I started feeling kind of claustrophobic the longer I was waiting. The first young woman I'd been talking to (Rhode Island) was waiting there too, so it wasn't so bad until she got called off by the doctor. That was when the nerves really kicked in. I waited maybe half an hour staring at that barber shop window, until the doctor came in and called my name.
She's very formal, all business. No joking around with this one. Not even a smile once you get into her office. She sits behind her desk and you sit in front of her like an errant child, while you get the questions about heart and kidney disease, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, and STD's. I said no to everything, but mentioned thrush (let's be honest girls, who hasn't had it) but she said it was irrelevant. Then I mentioned the antibiotics for my kidney infection, but it was irrelevant too. She measured my height and weight (which was exciting as I'd lost 2kg since I'd filled in my paperwork), and eyesight. I wear glasses some of the time, so she got me to put them on and put one hand over my eye and read a line... same again for other eye... all fine.
Okay, now if you would just sit up on the bed.... this is the bit where you stare forward while she checks your eyes, ears and throat. I have a tiny skin tag on my ear that she queried, but I just said it had always been there. I'd be kinda prone to skin tags. So that's all good. Then you gotta take off your jeans/skirt/whatever and lie on the bed. Thankfully the gown is pretty long. I was also grateful I'd had the presence of mine to put on matching underwear that morning.
When you're lying there, she checks the glands in your neck. Then she listens to you breathe, putting the stethoscope on your chest, under your bust, actually fully on your ####### at one stage which I thought was weird but I'm not a doctor, so hey. Then you sit up and she gets you to breathe in etc while she checks your breathing again, then lie back down so she can have a squeeze round your tummy. Her bedside manner is brusque, but she's good. She does a blood test after she checks your arms.
As she was doing all that, she asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I said I had, to which she replied "Oh, did I miss that in the paperwork?" Cue me, horribly embarrassed: "No, I don't take any medication for it, but I actually brought a letter if you want to see it?" She said she would, and then she left me lying there to go and write something down. I'm assuming it was just the PCOS stuff. Then when she came back, she just lifted the band of my panties and looked down, literally a second, then I could get dressed again. Thank the goddesses. I was worried it would be a whole "just give me a minute while I put on a hat with a light on it and have a good look down there".
So I got dressed, sat back down and showed her the diagnosis letter about my PCOS. She said in her opinion I should be on medication, but she could see as per the letter that I was maintaining the condition through diet and exercise. But it's okay, not to worry, everything is in order. I can go back into the main waiting room.
Phew. After all the tiny waiting rooms and examination rooms, I felt like I'd just walked out on to the top of Everest. After a few minutes, the receptionist calls you over. You get all your documentation back. You pay the bill. They staple the receipt to a page of FAQs (questions like 'When will my results be back?', and vaccination based questions). I'd strongly advise you to get the vaccinations before you have your medical. I also got a vaccination documentation worksheet. It lists all the vaccinations, dates the ones I've had and any reasons for waiver (not age appropriate, not routinely available). Then on remarks it reads "This K-non immigrant applicant did receive the required vaccines and the US vaccination requirements are complete for this applicant".
Like I said, get your vaccines. It's free til you leave the UK, and we've enough to pay for with this whole process.
Then they just tell you if there's anything else they need, they'll be in touch. It takes 4-5 days for your results to come in, and if everything's okay they just courier it to the embassy. So basically if I hear nothing by next Wednesday I'm good to go.
So now, £290 lighter and my dignity mainly intact, I get to leave Bentinck Street, run for the bus and narrowly make my flight back to Northern Ireland, where my car awaits me, frozen solid.
I hope this helps anyone else out there doing the same thing. If ever you need someone to talk to, advice or simply how to pose correctly like Wonder Woman, give me a shout.

Just thought I'd share my medical experience on here, in case anyone (like I did), spent ages googling it before the big day.
I flew from Belfast to London Luton on the 7.00am flight, and then boarded a Greenline Bus that took me right down to Baker Street, from where it was a ten minute walk to Bentinck Street. I'd advise taking the Greenline, it's pretty cheap at only £17 for a return journey, although be aware it doesn't pick you up at the same place for the return journey. It's not even Baker Street, it's outside the Allsop Arms on Gloucester Square but it's not a long walk. Also be aware the drivers are kind of unpleasant, if you don't get on the bus immediately the like to yell at you. It gives them a sense of purpose.
So it's a pretty ordinary looking building, white brick, steps leading up to a big brown door with golden handles. As my flight and bus got me there for about 9am and my appointment wasn't til 13:50, I had a lot of time to kill. Oxford Street and Soho aren't far away, so it was nice to do a little Christmas recon in the city. Although to be honest I was too nervous to really enjoy it. Got a pretty sub par scone in Debenhams, so I wasn't happy about that. Could have used a glass of wine to be honest, but didn't want my blood test to read of anything alcoholic, but since I'm northern Irish, my blood's probably about 47% whiskey anyway.
After much walking, I arrived back at Bentinck Street at about 12, knowing I was super early. I pressed the buzzer for apartment 4 and the door opened. When I went in and spoke to the receptionist, she was a bit wary at letting me wait there as I was so early, but I explained how I'd flown from Belfast and had already wandered as much as I wanted to and really would like to just sit and wait, where I could read my book. My feet were sore, not to mention I've been on night shift all week and was bloody shattered.
So wait I did. Chatted with a nice couple moving to Texas, and a girl moving to Rhode Island. At about 13:30 I went to check in. The receptionist was very pleasant, and I handed over all my documentation (police certificate, vaccination records, questionnaire, passport and photos). She sorted it all out. They gave me a pot for a urine sample and a questionnaire not unlike the one I filled in that was downloaded off the embassy website. The questionnaire comes on a clipboard, with one of your photos stapled to it. You only have to fill out the first two pages. The first page is only a half page about your vaccinations and whether you've had chicken pox (as that vaccine isn't ordinarily available in the U.K.). The main questionnaire, as I've said, is very similar to the one you've already filled out, it's just a little more extensive, particularly around the mental health (one question was 'Have you ever had thoughts about harming yourself?' And then 'Have you ever acted on these thoughts'). I remember reading somewhere before about there being a question that says "does the subject look as if they are lying". Not there. The only thing of similarity was a statement saying something along the lines of "do they appear to be giving reliable information". So I filled out the questionnaire, at the very bottom there's a bit that says to list any medication you're currently on. I'm taking antibiotics at the moment for a kidney infection so I included this. Better to err on the side of caution, in case anything comes up in the blood or urine sample. And with that, I handed everything in.
A few moments later a nurse called my name. I'd seen this happen with the other couple from Texas, and it had taken a while, so I gathered up my bag and coat only for the nurse to stop me just outside the door and tell me that all my vaccinations were up to date and I needed none (I'm super organised- also everything on the NHS is free, so I'm also kind of frugal).
After another ten minute wait, the X ray technician called me in. He was a lovely gentleman, putting you at ease right away. In the corner of the room is a little chair and you take off your top half clothes, bra and all, and are given a gown to wear. Then you get your chest x ray. And oh no, it isn't enough to just stand in front of the black plate, you have to properly smoosh your boobs right up against it, put your hands on your hips like you're Wonder Woman about to perform the Time Warp. Then he draws the curtain around you again and tells you to put your bra back on, and then the gown over it. He was a lovely, chatty man and definitely made me feel much more at ease. When I came out after getting as redressed as I could, he was looking at my X ray on a computer screen. I asked him did everything look okay and he said from as far as he could see yes. Then I asked what the big blob was on the right side of my rib cage.
Yeah Linda, that'd be your heart, genius. At least it gave him a chuckle. No home schooling for your kids.
Then he shows you into this tiny waiting room with a big window that looks right on to a couple of barber shops. Thank god I had the gown sufficiently closed or someone could have got an ear lobbed off.
This was the place I got most nervous. You're on your own and it's a very small room, I started feeling kind of claustrophobic the longer I was waiting. The first young woman I'd been talking to (Rhode Island) was waiting there too, so it wasn't so bad until she got called off by the doctor. That was when the nerves really kicked in. I waited maybe half an hour staring at that barber shop window, until the doctor came in and called my name.
She's very formal, all business. No joking around with this one. Not even a smile once you get into her office. She sits behind her desk and you sit in front of her like an errant child, while you get the questions about heart and kidney disease, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, and STD's. I said no to everything, but mentioned thrush (let's be honest girls, who hasn't had it) but she said it was irrelevant. Then I mentioned the antibiotics for my kidney infection, but it was irrelevant too. She measured my height and weight (which was exciting as I'd lost 2kg since I'd filled in my paperwork), and eyesight. I wear glasses some of the time, so she got me to put them on and put one hand over my eye and read a line... same again for other eye... all fine.
Okay, now if you would just sit up on the bed.... this is the bit where you stare forward while she checks your eyes, ears and throat. I have a tiny skin tag on my ear that she queried, but I just said it had always been there. I'd be kinda prone to skin tags. So that's all good. Then you gotta take off your jeans/skirt/whatever and lie on the bed. Thankfully the gown is pretty long. I was also grateful I'd had the presence of mine to put on matching underwear that morning.
When you're lying there, she checks the glands in your neck. Then she listens to you breathe, putting the stethoscope on your chest, under your bust, actually fully on your ####### at one stage which I thought was weird but I'm not a doctor, so hey. Then you sit up and she gets you to breathe in etc while she checks your breathing again, then lie back down so she can have a squeeze round your tummy. Her bedside manner is brusque, but she's good. She does a blood test after she checks your arms.
As she was doing all that, she asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I said I had, to which she replied "Oh, did I miss that in the paperwork?" Cue me, horribly embarrassed: "No, I don't take any medication for it, but I actually brought a letter if you want to see it?" She said she would, and then she left me lying there to go and write something down. I'm assuming it was just the PCOS stuff. Then when she came back, she just lifted the band of my panties and looked down, literally a second, then I could get dressed again. Thank the goddesses. I was worried it would be a whole "just give me a minute while I put on a hat with a light on it and have a good look down there".
So I got dressed, sat back down and showed her the diagnosis letter about my PCOS. She said in her opinion I should be on medication, but she could see as per the letter that I was maintaining the condition through diet and exercise. But it's okay, not to worry, everything is in order. I can go back into the main waiting room.
Phew. After all the tiny waiting rooms and examination rooms, I felt like I'd just walked out on to the top of Everest. After a few minutes, the receptionist calls you over. You get all your documentation back. You pay the bill. They staple the receipt to a page of FAQs (questions like 'When will my results be back?', and vaccination based questions). I'd strongly advise you to get the vaccinations before you have your medical. I also got a vaccination documentation worksheet. It lists all the vaccinations, dates the ones I've had and any reasons for waiver (not age appropriate, not routinely available). Then on remarks it reads "This K-non immigrant applicant did receive the required vaccines and the US vaccination requirements are complete for this applicant".
Like I said, get your vaccines. It's free til you leave the UK, and we've enough to pay for with this whole process.
Then they just tell you if there's anything else they need, they'll be in touch. It takes 4-5 days for your results to come in, and if everything's okay they just courier it to the embassy. So basically if I hear nothing by next Wednesday I'm good to go.
So now, £290 lighter and my dignity mainly intact, I get to leave Bentinck Street, run for the bus and narrowly make my flight back to Northern Ireland, where my car awaits me, frozen solid.
I hope this helps anyone else out there doing the same thing. If ever you need someone to talk to, advice or simply how to pose correctly like Wonder Woman, give me a shout.

Just thought I'd share my medical experience on here, in case anyone (like I did), spent ages googling it before the big day.
I flew from Belfast to London Luton on the 7.00am flight, and then boarded a Greenline Bus that took me right down to Baker Street, from where it was a ten minute walk to Bentinck Street. I'd advise taking the Greenline, it's pretty cheap at only £17 for a return journey, although be aware it doesn't pick you up at the same place for the return journey. It's not even Baker Street, it's outside the Allsop Arms on Gloucester Square but it's not a long walk. Also be aware the drivers are kind of unpleasant, if you don't get on the bus immediately the like to yell at you. It gives them a sense of purpose.
So it's a pretty ordinary looking building, white brick, steps leading up to a big brown door with golden handles. As my flight and bus got me there for about 9am and my appointment wasn't til 13:50, I had a lot of time to kill. Oxford Street and Soho aren't far away, so it was nice to do a little Christmas recon in the city. Although to be honest I was too nervous to really enjoy it. Got a pretty sub par scone in Debenhams, so I wasn't happy about that. Could have used a glass of wine to be honest, but didn't want my blood test to read of anything alcoholic, but since I'm northern Irish, my blood's probably about 47% whiskey anyway.
After much walking, I arrived back at Bentinck Street at about 12, knowing I was super early. I pressed the buzzer for apartment 4 and the door opened. When I went in and spoke to the receptionist, she was a bit wary at letting me wait there as I was so early, but I explained how I'd flown from Belfast and had already wandered as much as I wanted to and really would like to just sit and wait, where I could read my book. My feet were sore, not to mention I've been on night shift all week and was bloody shattered.
So wait I did. Chatted with a nice couple moving to Texas, and a girl moving to Rhode Island. At about 13:30 I went to check in. The receptionist was very pleasant, and I handed over all my documentation (police certificate, vaccination records, questionnaire, passport and photos). She sorted it all out. They gave me a pot for a urine sample and a questionnaire not unlike the one I filled in that was downloaded off the embassy website. The questionnaire comes on a clipboard, with one of your photos stapled to it. You only have to fill out the first two pages. The first page is only a half page about your vaccinations and whether you've had chicken pox (as that vaccine isn't ordinarily available in the U.K.). The main questionnaire, as I've said, is very similar to the one you've already filled out, it's just a little more extensive, particularly around the mental health (one question was 'Have you ever had thoughts about harming yourself?' And then 'Have you ever acted on these thoughts'). I remember reading somewhere before about there being a question that says "does the subject look as if they are lying". Not there. The only thing of similarity was a statement saying something along the lines of "do they appear to be giving reliable information". So I filled out the questionnaire, at the very bottom there's a bit that says to list any medication you're currently on. I'm taking antibiotics at the moment for a kidney infection so I included this. Better to err on the side of caution, in case anything comes up in the blood or urine sample. And with that, I handed everything in.
A few moments later a nurse called my name. I'd seen this happen with the other couple from Texas, and it had taken a while, so I gathered up my bag and coat only for the nurse to stop me just outside the door and tell me that all my vaccinations were up to date and I needed none (I'm super organised- also everything on the NHS is free, so I'm also kind of frugal).
After another ten minute wait, the X ray technician called me in. He was a lovely gentleman, putting you at ease right away. In the corner of the room is a little chair and you take off your top half clothes, bra and all, and are given a gown to wear. Then you get your chest x ray. And oh no, it isn't enough to just stand in front of the black plate, you have to properly smoosh your boobs right up against it, put your hands on your hips like you're Wonder Woman about to perform the Time Warp. Then he draws the curtain around you again and tells you to put your bra back on, and then the gown over it. He was a lovely, chatty man and definitely made me feel much more at ease. When I came out after getting as redressed as I could, he was looking at my X ray on a computer screen. I asked him did everything look okay and he said from as far as he could see yes. Then I asked what the big blob was on the right side of my rib cage.
Yeah Linda, that'd be your heart, genius. At least it gave him a chuckle. No home schooling for your kids.
Then he shows you into this tiny waiting room with a big window that looks right on to a couple of barber shops. Thank god I had the gown sufficiently closed or someone could have got an ear lobbed off.
This was the place I got most nervous. You're on your own and it's a very small room, I started feeling kind of claustrophobic the longer I was waiting. The first young woman I'd been talking to (Rhode Island) was waiting there too, so it wasn't so bad until she got called off by the doctor. That was when the nerves really kicked in. I waited maybe half an hour staring at that barber shop window, until the doctor came in and called my name.
She's very formal, all business. No joking around with this one. Not even a smile once you get into her office. She sits behind her desk and you sit in front of her like an errant child, while you get the questions about heart and kidney disease, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, and STD's. I said no to everything, but mentioned thrush (let's be honest girls, who hasn't had it) but she said it was irrelevant. Then I mentioned the antibiotics for my kidney infection, but it was irrelevant too. She measured my height and weight (which was exciting as I'd lost 2kg since I'd filled in my paperwork), and eyesight. I wear glasses some of the time, so she got me to put them on and put one hand over my eye and read a line... same again for other eye... all fine.
Okay, now if you would just sit up on the bed.... this is the bit where you stare forward while she checks your eyes, ears and throat. I have a tiny skin tag on my ear that she queried, but I just said it had always been there. I'd be kinda prone to skin tags. So that's all good. Then you gotta take off your jeans/skirt/whatever and lie on the bed. Thankfully the gown is pretty long. I was also grateful I'd had the presence of mine to put on matching underwear that morning.
When you're lying there, she checks the glands in your neck. Then she listens to you breathe, putting the stethoscope on your chest, under your bust, actually fully on your ####### at one stage which I thought was weird but I'm not a doctor, so hey. Then you sit up and she gets you to breathe in etc while she checks your breathing again, then lie back down so she can have a squeeze round your tummy. Her bedside manner is brusque, but she's good. She does a blood test after she checks your arms.
As she was doing all that, she asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). I said I had, to which she replied "Oh, did I miss that in the paperwork?" Cue me, horribly embarrassed: "No, I don't take any medication for it, but I actually brought a letter if you want to see it?" She said she would, and then she left me lying there to go and write something down. I'm assuming it was just the PCOS stuff. Then when she came back, she just lifted the band of my panties and looked down, literally a second, then I could get dressed again. Thank the goddesses. I was worried it would be a whole "just give me a minute while I put on a hat with a light on it and have a good look down there".
So I got dressed, sat back down and showed her the diagnosis letter about my PCOS. She said in her opinion I should be on medication, but she could see as per the letter that I was maintaining the condition through diet and exercise. But it's okay, not to worry, everything is in order. I can go back into the main waiting room.
Phew. After all the tiny waiting rooms and examination rooms, I felt like I'd just walked out on to the top of Everest. After a few minutes, the receptionist calls you over. You get all your documentation back. You pay the bill. They staple the receipt to a page of FAQs (questions like 'When will my results be back?', and vaccination based questions). I'd strongly advise you to get the vaccinations before you have your medical. I also got a vaccination documentation worksheet. It lists all the vaccinations, dates the ones I've had and any reasons for waiver (not age appropriate, not routinely available). Then on remarks it reads "This K-non immigrant applicant did receive the required vaccines and the US vaccination requirements are complete for this applicant".
Like I said, get your vaccines. It's free til you leave the UK, and we've enough to pay for with this whole process.
Then they just tell you if there's anything else they need, they'll be in touch. It takes 4-5 days for your results to come in, and if everything's okay they just courier it to the embassy. So basically if I hear nothing by next Wednesday I'm good to go.
So now, £290 lighter and my dignity mainly intact, I get to leave Bentinck Street, run for the bus and narrowly make my flight back to Northern Ireland, where my car awaits me, frozen solid.
I hope this helps anyone else out there doing the same thing. If ever you need someone to talk to, advice or simply how to pose correctly like Wonder Woman, give me a shout.

I am in the same boat as you! Same approval date and everything! I am hoping our cases are together somewhere and we hear news soon!
Per some of the advice in this topic I called USCIS last Friday and got no information, including if it had been sent or not... so I did as the Tier 2 officer told me and put in an inquiry. Hopefully if they give me an update they will have one for your case at the same time... I assume they are in the same post at this point... here is hoping anyway!
I am glad to see that some of you guys are getting updates... I can't believe how absurd this nonsense is with the USCIS... honestly how hard is it to mail something from one state to the next.... this really should be digitized by now!! I got my mortgage all done through online and that was LOADS more paperwork than this was!!!
Ninz- Did you contact your Senator again? I know you said they haven't responded to him, but maybe if you get on his tail they will get more on their tails and get you an answer soon!