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I was a regular reader of the last London thread to keep myself updated with current timelines etc before it went to 70+ pages and way off topic. I thought it was such a useful resource so I’ve decided to start the ball rolling again so we can keep each other updated on news as it comes in. To kick us off, me and my wife were DQ 10th July so we’re hoping to get our interview appointment email early November. It appears June DQ dates have been scheduled so hoping this is our time after literally years of waiting. Fingers crossed for no Tier 3 lockdown in London!

I thought it would be useful to post a review of my appointment at Visa Medicals in London on 4th August 2023. I found it hard to find recent ones and hopefully this'll calm someone else's nerves! I waited until I had my instructions letter from the embassy before calling to book my appointment. There was a relatively short wait on the phone (better than calling my GP) and I was offered an appointment within a few days. Forgetting that I was still waiting for a letter from my GP and that it was the weekend, I had to call and reschedule for later the same week. The lady on the phone laughed when I said I got over excited. I received a confirmation email with instructions like where it is, documents to bring and booking translators (if applicable) I arrived at Bond St very early. Killed a couple hours in Leon, found Bentinck Street and had a wander. My appointment was at 11:10am, pressed the buzzer at 11:05am. The email suggests a one in, one out situation. That isn't the case and is probably left over from COVID era. I was worried I was going to be told off for buzzing 5 minutes early, no one even spoke on the intercom, they just let me in. Visa Medicals is the first door on your right when you come in. The lady on reception asked for my name and 'all the documents we asked you to bring' which threw me a bit. It's probably a good idea to have everything ready to go in one bundle, not in well organised seperate sections of a folder like I did. I think I excepted the doctor to be asking for the reports and vaccination records, not the receptionist. This is what I gave over: My passport 4 US sized visa photos (Snappy Snaps can do US sized photos, it was ~£35 for 8 photos) A copy of my ACRO police certificate A copy of the first page of the instructions letter form the embassy with my LND number and visa category Summary care record from my GP Vaccination records from my GP COVID pass from the NHS app Hep B vaccination proof Medical questionairre A letter from my GP outlining past mental health issues, treatments and current mental health status (because I ticked yes to self harm) A discharge letter form a surgery I had in 2016 (because I ticked yes to hospitalization) Note, you do not get these back (except your passport) so make copies for your own records and keep the original ACRO and embassy letter for yourself. Here's how the email words the documents required: I was sent into the waiting room with two more yes/no questionairres to fill out. The first was very basic and asked questions related to allergies, steroids/immunosuppresants and pregnancy. Anything I ticked yes to, I put a note underneath explaining why. The second was more detailed (and very confusing because yes/no swapped places). These are the questions I can remember: Have you had an injury or illness that required hospitalization? Multiple questions on different types of heart/thyroid/kidney/liver diseases Have you ever taken recreational drugs? Multiple questions about substance abuse, related conditions and criminal record due to substance abuse Have you ever had thoughts of harming yourself? Have you ever acted on those thoughts? Have you ever had thoughts of harming others? Have you ever acted on those thoughts? Current medications (I also listed non-prescribed hayfever tablets and multivitamins) Any other medical conditions that required treatment? (I put yes - vitamin D deficiency, treated via daily supplements) Someone then called me through to take a chest x-ray. No need to remove my piercings (nipple included) and sent me back to the waiting room. A few minutes later a doctor called Michaela called me through. She was extremely friendly and I felt at ease with her. We discussed some of the questions I had ticked yes to like why I had surgery and what methods I used for self harm in the past. She repeated some of the questions to me directly, particularly about drug use and harming others. She told me that the US is very keen to ask these questions due to the availability of guns and the risk of gun violence. I had an additional report on my mental health from my last counsellor, so she took that from me as all evidence is good evidence. The rest of the exam was height, weight, vision, ears and mouth. Then I was asked to undress to underwear and socks and drape a gown over my lower half whilst on the bench. Here she took my blood pressure, took a blood sample for syphillis, listened to my heart and lungs, bent my knees around to check for pain and pressed different areas of my stomach. No urine sample was taken due to my age (27) and no past STDs. I have a scoliosis in my spine, which she noticed and asked if it caused back pain (it doesn't) and that was that. She sent me back into the waiting room while a nurse checked my vaccinations. I didn't need anything done as I'd had my DTaP booster at my GP recently and I'd already had Hep B vaccinations for work reasons in the past. They can do them for you but it may be cheaper to get them done elsewhere before your appointment. I paid and was given proof of vaccinations to use when I adjust status. All in all, nothing to worry about but I am glad I was prepared! Good luck to anyone going for their medical

I had the additional documents with me and I showed them to the officer. The officer was happy about them but they asked me to upload them to CEAS and gave me 221g, I then uploaded the documents to CEAC on the spot. Along with the 221g they gave me a form with instructions, the last instruction is to send the original documents to the embassy via DX delivery. Which I did. My questions are: 1- Did I have to do this (send them to the embassy via DX)? since the officer already looked at the original documents in the interview, but they were only concerned that they weren't uploaded? 2- Also, I sent original documents, and I need them for the future, does the US embassy return those documents along with the passport? 3- And if so how long does the US embassy in London usually take to change the status for such scenario from Refused to Issued? Thanks in advance!

Just found this thread and it has brought me so much joy. I hate sitting in limbo land being unable to plan my life until I know when I can head back to the States. Before finding this thread I wasn’t sure if it would be a 3 month wait or an 8month wait. EB1 I-140 approved end of June, all fees paid, documents and DS-260 submitted around August 22. Not sure how long DQing takes or if being EB1 affects anything, but I’m hoping that I could get an interview scheduled early next year at the London embassy. Not sure if anyone in a similar boat has some insight… Thank you for this thread!

Hello all, Hope everybody is doing good. My question is somewhat London specific but feel free to chime in if you have any information, My case is currently 'in transit' and was wondering if anyone has managed to book there interview for K1 whilst there case has been in transit ? I have received an email that our case has been sent to the embassy, I have read the London 'welcome email' takes a while to come. the K1 interview booking website ais.usvisa-info.com has let me register and create an account and has given me the payment screen and from what I have read on forums on here : that interviews have been booked in the past while 'in transit' so long as the portal lets you book it. You can book it. I am unsure on what to do at this point, I am itching towards booking the interview but I am also anxious about doing the wrong thing, Please can someone provide an insight. Many thanks.

Hi, I’m going through the list of documents it says I need to provide at my interview and it just says to bring originals of all Civil Documents and there’s no need to bring any of the financial evidence / forms that were uploaded to the NVC. However when I read about people’s experiences here they’ve talked about bringing their I-864 form as well as recent tax returns. Is this “just to be safe” or is it something they specifically ask for at the London embassy. thanks!

We received our NOA2 in early May (finally!) so I decided to start getting some things ready, one of which being my ACRO police certificate. Obviously, you have to put your previous names on the application, which I did (changed my name via deed poll in 2013) but when the certificate arrived creased from being in a thin A4 envelope, it didn't state my old name. Just my current one. I've seen some recourses dotted about saying that it must show your previous names or that you need a certificate for each name. However, the official embassy site says nothing about this. I'll contact ACRO as well. Just wanted to see if anyone else had some up to date information on London's processes for old names and police certs. Thanks! Aaron

Hi all hope you well, I have submitted all documents to CEAC website, today i received an email that I am DQ but also received a message saying I need to add W2-1099 for hubby, so does this means that I go back to the queu and in 14 days we will again the DQ or regardless we are now through. Also my hubby didn’t upload his recent Tax return from IRS but rather the document his tax preparer did. Do you recommend to on this stage add the return? Thank you

Hello! My husband has submitted his DS-260 and booked his medical exam. He has been attempting to book his interview in London but is continually met with the "no available appointments" message. We are wondering how long it typically takes before visa interview appointments become available? Does the Embassy post new interview availability or just openings from cancellations? Is there a limit to how often you can check the interview appointment availability? Thank you!

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone could help us understand what the next steps are after filing the petition through the consular? The I-130 was approved on the spot after the interview and I was told to wait 12 weeks. We just don’t know what to do next. What paper work should we be getting together? Is my husband able to do the medical exam now or do we have to wait until we are contacted? Also, can he start getting his police report now as well?

I've just had to reschedule my medical. Not the end of the world, but just a pain. Reason was my GP surgery still haven't sent the letter over, and when I've chased it they have the attitude of "we'll get it to you when we get it to you". I looked up the cancellation policy and they need 3 working days notice or they'll charge you £100. Meaning I'd have needed the letter by 3pm today latest, which isn't gonna happen! So I pushed it back a week and a half. Fingers crossed I get it by then and it all goes smoothly. I've not had my interview date yet so shouldn't be a problem, but going by everyone's estimations of interviews etc, I don't want my medical to be any later than mid-late Feb. Also, just an FYI for anyone wanting to know about wait times for the medical - mine was originally for the 7th, I asked to push it back to the week after and asked what dates they have, the lady said "what date would you like?" so there doesn't seem like there's much wait at all, there were multiple appointment times available morning and evening for several dates. Lots of flexibility

Hi Guys I am new here . I recently had my medical screening exam at visa medical in UK. I was just wondering, how do I know I have been cleared ? Do I receive a mail from them notifying me of that? I am really anxious

Read a post recently about the importance of detail when filling out the DCF London contact form and am now worried about my submission. (I haven't received a reply yet but it was submitted very recently.) A couple questions... 1. My main worry is that I asked about filing CR1 for my UK spouse through DCF in the contact form and now I worry I should have asked for I-130. The reason I did not say I-130 in the form is because I know this is the first step to filing CR1 anyway. Other than that I was as detailed as possible. Should I be worried about this / could this be a potential slip up that affects me? And if so... 2. If needed, can further detail to your enquiry be added later? There was no email confirmation of submitted enquiry that followed up my enquiry, so I don't know if this is an option. I may just be letting worry get to me too quickly, but if this is something I have slipped up on I'd rather know now!

Hi everyone, We just got our interview date today for 6/2/23. I immediately called the Visa Medical place and was told the examination needed to be done 2 weeks before the interview. They booked me in on the 19/1/23 - that’s only a week away! I have a chronic illness that requires immunosuppressants and so I immediately emailed my consultant's secretary asking for a medical report but she replied saying she 'cannot guarantee' they will be able to get it for me in time. Does anybody have any ideas on what is best to do in this situation? I will be getting a report from my gp, I have had all the vaccinations that I am allowed (can't have live vaccines) and I will have everything else - there's just the possibility this report won't be done. Is it best to rearrange the medical until I have the report? The NVC won't have my medical when I go to interview in that case. Or perhaps I should get as much info from my GP as possible and hope that's sufficient for the medical? I feel like this is a very limited amount of time to prep and with how things usually are, I assumed we would have more time. Any help at all would be really great! Thanks, Laura

Hey I just read your post about the French police report. I also have one and only had it sent to me via email. Is this OK? Was your problem not having the original British certificate ? Thanks for your help! And well done 🙂

Hi all, I am a U.S. citizen living in London with my husband who is British. We were looking into moving to America as we have no family, and I miss my family. Is it possible to use dcf job related exceptional circumstances instead of the standard 2-year process? I have a family member who owns their own business and is willing to hire me and give me a letter of employment to start work in March 2023. Would the embassy accept my circumstances and letter of employment for dcf if they know it's family hiring me?

Having completed all the necessary steps for a K1 interview at the London consulate (DS-160, medical interview attended, etc), we have registered at the requested Visa Appointment Service website at https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv. We chose our courier preference and have advanced to the stage of paying the MRV fee(s). It is my understanding that this is the point when an interview can be scheduled. However, we are unable to pay our MRV fees and are met with the message: "There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the Consular Section will open more appointments." This has been going on for well over a week. As with so many applicants who have suffered long delays all through the application process, we are desperate to finally schedule our interview. We have been refreshing this page every few minutes, 24 hours a day, for the last 7 days without any change. When I phoned the interview scheduling number, they simply read me the same message verbatim and told me to "keep trying". I have submitted an online request to the London IV Unit via their form, and I have sent an email as directed by the person who was answering the interview scheduling phone. I await their responses. Just wondering if anyone has encountered this message in the past (and if so, how long the delay lasted), if anyone has successfully scheduled a K1 interview in the past couple of weeks in London, or if anyone has navigated this issue at all?

I have received a date for the first step interview at DCF in London! Right now I'm preparing everything asked for on the I-130 checklist and getting as prepared as I can for my spouse's interview in the future (should all go well!) Question: On the I-130 checklist it says: ❑ Passports: Current and previous passports for U.S. citizen petitioner and beneficiary Does this mean we need to submit all of our expired passports as well as our current? Like all the way from childhood? May be interpreting this wrong but wanted to ask in case. Question 2: Is it the printable I-130 and I-130A document from the USCIS website that I need to bring? Is there another source for I-130? Or do I need to complete it digitally and then print it. Question 3: It is not included on the checklist, but we will be using a second sponsor due to my US income not reaching the £60k min. Do we submit this at this stage or the next stage when my spouse is interviewed? Thank you!

Hi Everyone, So let's start with the fact that my petition was filed a month before I was turning 21. (almost 2 years ago) Throughout the whole process I was advised that my category was going to be IR-2 and it was. My petition was USCIS approved and then I got DQed in May 2020. I had my interview scheduled for October 2020 at the London Embassy, I have gone through the medical examination and vaccinations which have been paid for and then a day before my interview the US Embassy in London called me and advised me not to come to the interview because I was affected by the Trump proclamations. Recently I have logged into the NVC CEAC and realized that my Visa Category have changed from IR-2 to F11. I thought my age should freeze at the time of the application and I shouldn't age out. Obviously I am worried on how long this process is going to take as this isn't IR-2 but F11. I have already submitted the NVC Contact Form to advise that the category shouldn't been changed to F11. This whole process created so much stress and loss of money considering my police certificates have expired as well as the medical examination. Can you please help? Did you guys came across this? I appreciate any help, have a great day.

Hi all, First time poster — not sure if it is in the right place or not! My husband has his medical tomorrow in London. He has not been to the GP in years (lived out of country for a while), and has never had antibiotics / prescriptions from his GP. He has his vaccination records, but does not have a copy of his patient care summary from his GP (there isn’t much to summarize). He does, however, have a printed copy of his NHS health record. According to the US Embassy’s website, he only needs a referral from the GP if there is an ongoing medical issue.Has anyone found success at their medical without the patient care summary? Thank you, Alexa

Anyone out there waiting for an interview or had an interview for EB-2? Seems to be some EB-3 around on this forum but haven't seen many EB-2s, so if you're out there make contact! I'm waiting for an interview - DQ 9th Feb 2022 🙂

Hello, is anyone currently going through the DCF process for an CR1/IR1 visa in the UK? We filed on Jan 25th, got approved on the spot, and still haven’t heard anything since.

Hi everyone! We submitted our documents to NVC in April 2022, meaning that we could not upload the most recent tax transcript from 2021 as it wasn't available yet (we only uploaded the 2020 tax transcript). Should we now upload the 2021 tax transcript to CEAC before my interview next month or is it ok to just take a hard copy of the transcript with me to the interview? Any help/opinions would be appreciated

I just uploaded a review of my interview. I was so stressed, mainly because the only real in depth review of an EB1A case on this forum or anywhere (Richard Purves, from a few years back) sounded like a total nightmare! In reality it was simple, zero stress, zero waiting and all over in 20 minutes from entering security to being back on the street waiting for our Uber home. https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=30644 AMA !

Had my medical today, it was after my interview because I couldn’t get an appointment. I spoke to the lady working the reception and explained how everyone at the embassy along with me didn’t have their medicals yet. She sort of sighed and say yes, people are finding it really difficult to get medical appointments prior to the interview, which is causing them to be extremely busy. (She seemed stressed but was very lovely) She said the reason was because the embassy is doing things in blocks, sending out interview letters and notifications in big blocks. So seems like they get a massive influx of appointments needed at the one time, which probably can’t help! A of bunch of folk there today had already done their interview too. thought it was an interesting note from the day and might answer some questions of folk waiting for their date after seeing so many get there’s, with only a day or two difference in DQ. Ps- staff were all lovely but I was there a good 3-4 hours mostly waiting, so keep that in mind!