Rescheduling the AOS interview

[START2]

This is for the married guys. I'm not so sure that any of you have done this but it will be a must for us.
   It's been an interesting mail week for us. First, Valentyna was notified she would fianlly be receiving her SS card in a few weeks. For us that was a bit of a hassle. Not from the SSA but from USCIS. For those of you that don't know, when you go to that SS office and apply for a card, they send it to USCIS first. They are the ones decide ye or nay. For what ever reason it was turned down. We applied again later and evidently they ok'd the SSA it was ok to issue Val a card. So, that is accomplished. 2nd, the IRS issued our son his ITIN. It appears they will allow me to claim him for taxes for 2005. The first time I applied for his ITIN, they denied saying we sent "To much info". Go figure. I also applied for Val to get an ITIN because of all the other delays with everything else. She also received her ITIN and I can claim her too. I sent my 1040 form with the applications and now that appears to be taken care of and I believe a nice healthy little refund is headed this way.
  Now the reason for this post. Friday, we received the date for her AOS--GC interview. Problem is, she will be Ukraine on the appointed day so we will have to cancel that interview and get a new date assigned. Has anyone here, cancelled that Day WE HAVE ALL BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO? All they ask is to send them a reason why we can not be there. I plan on sending them a copy of her I-131(travel doc), a copy of her itinerary with plane tickets, and a written reason why we need to cancel the date and of course when she will be home. I hope they will reschedule after that date. for those of you that have done this, did your local office accommadate you? We will have to have the interview in Memphis so I assume that's where I send this reply. In the evelope was also a long list of docs that we will need for the interview. Yes, the same docs they already have several copies of plus a sealed envelop from a Civil surgeon. There are several places in TN, to do this and I have heard the prices of these med exams vary greatly in cost. I will call tomorrow to check prices. What have your experiences with this med exam been? What was actually examined? Blood, chest x-ray, etc?
  Any heads-up on this will help me to know what's ahead. Thanks in advance.

[Vaughn]

What have your experiences with this med exam been? What was actually examined?

Start, aside from weight, height and checking the translated immunization records, they only did bloodwork. Cost here (May '03) was $110 - $40 of which was for "Form Completion". I believe costs vary according to the completeness of the existing shot record.

 No experience rescheduling an interview....

Vaughn  (with regards to Leonid)

[catzenmouse]

Darryl,

 In regards to the Civil Surgeon it would be good to ask some of Val's FSU girlfriends who they have used. We didn't know anyone here to ask and ended up with an idiot that filled out the paperwork wrong (which we had to resubmit costing us a couple more months of waiting time with USCIS) AND payed close to $500 for this. None of which was covered by our insurance.

Ken

[BC]

Just a dumb question..

Why would medical exams have to be repeated if they were already submitted as part of the K package?

[Son of Clyde]

We are having medical exams done for AOS on Tuesday at 9am by a Civil Surgeon. The cost for Iryna $165.00, for Mike $135.00.

Start2, I am confused because I thought Val had received her AOS approval by mail and bypassed the interview? Maybe you and I still have close timelines.

I was advised by an attorney it is best to have a medical exam done in the US prior to the interview.

As far as rescheduling the interview, I don't know the rules but I know from her letter it can be done. Funny, it is us who feel guilty having to reschedule while USCIS keeps us holding on for months waiting for them to do something.

[Voyageur]

BC,

If you have had your K1 medical exam within a year of applying for the AOS, you do not need to get another exam. However, you will need to find a Civil Surgeon that will either accept the immunization history from the FSU country or else administer the immunizations.

We were very lucky to find a Civil Surgeon (we did not ask anyone, we found the Doctor via the USCIS web-site) that not only accepted the documentation from Russia on immunizations, but was quite lenient on the interpretation. This was most critical for my wife's six year old, as - quite understandably - my wife did not want any unnecessary shots given to her daughter.

In fact, after three appointments, we have yet to see the Civil Surgeon him/her in any of our office visits. We just see the receptionist and give her the $ 35.00.   

[Jet]

Just a dumb question..

Why would medical exams have to be repeated if they were already submitted as part of the K package?

Medical exam results "expire" after 12 months. Fingerprints "expire" after 15 months. Moscow medicals seem to never address the immunization records, these are required for the AOS interview. Many civil surgeons will NOT do the immunization record without also charging you for another medical exam. Usually it ends up being the half-asst exam that Vaughn's wife (and mine) got, resulting in a quick extra $100+ for the CS.

[Son of Clyde]

The second medical exam is a big mystery. If you phone USCIS you will be told to do exactly as the letter states. The letter asks you to have a completed medical exam in a sealed envelope (if required). The "if required" is the big mystery, so I am seeing the Civil Surgeon.

You can take your chances, if the immigration officer is having a good day they may let the medical exam slide. Do you want to take this risk? My wife's exam from Kiev will be over a year old at the time of her interview. Her girlfriends are all having second medical exams done in the US.

[START2]

 I should have been more clear as to why we need to do a med. exam again. It is true that the one submitted at the embassy in Kiev is good for one year. For us that would be mid-july. Val and Ihor will not return from Ukr. until late July, and we will actually be leaving for Ukr. in 2.5 weeks.  , The interview is scheduled for 6/26/06. Obviously they will not be here for that so we will reschedule and I'll send supporting docs along with an explanation why we can't make the june appointment. I assume they'll set a new  interview date after the end of july. That's ok with us. The bottom line at this point is she has all the basic docs she needs. Drivers license, EAD card, soon to be SSN, and now, a not needed ITIN. We're good to go. She has all she needs to get a job, go back to school, etc. Let me make it clear that I'm not complaining but I had a feeling that with the timeline from her biometrics and EAD that this interview would probably be scheduled while she was away. I did have a small hope that we would be treated to an interviewless GC like Catz, but it was not to be. For us, the trip back to Ukr. was/is more important than waiting for the USCIS to schedule whatever on their time. Yes, it's frustrating at times waiting on them but it's not worth living your life around their schedule. Thats' one reason we applied for and received the I-131. I was just trying to find out here if anyone has rescheduled a GC interview.
   This morning I called 4 different Civil Surgeon doctors that I retrieved from the USCIS site(there are many in Tn.) , and asked what prices were for an exam for GC. They ranged from $100 to $290 depending on if any vaccinations or chest x-rays were needed. Thankfully Val and Ihor have all the proper vaccinations and chest X-rays done after sept last year. Ihor for school, and Val already had her vacc. records from Ukr. It looks like we''ll escape the high end of the charges. I'll schedule the appointments before we leave in a few weeks. I hope this info helps any of you that have not had this done yet.
 
   SOC, hey fella, how's it goin?   On the page that says "Items that must be brought to the interview" the first part applies to us and states it's for the case of marriage. There's a list of 15 items. #9 requires Medical exam: Form I-693 and supplemental from approved physician(if not submitted)... Vague? yes! I wonder if that means they have the forms from the embassy. A call to the USCIS and they haven't a clue.I quit calling them long ago when I needed info. They don't freaking know!!!It's better to come here to our community and ask. Even here, everyone agrees you come away unsatisfied after talking to them. Then they have to courage to ask if there's anything else they can help you with. Cracks me up.    I believe you made the correct choice to get new exams.  Maybe a misunderstanding about Val's AOS. That appointment was for her biometrics and EAD at the same time. the bio is needed for this interview to adjust her status to LPR. Sooooo, buddy, you have cruised back in front of us for LPR!!!    At the bottom of the cover letter we received it simply states ...Please note ...IF for any reason you cannot keep this appointment, return this letter immediately with your explanation and request for a new appointment: otherwise your application will be terminated.       You can be sure I will return this tomorrow with reason and supporting docs requesting a new interview date. Our interview will be in Memphis. The other , bio and EAD was in nashville. Hello to Iryna and Mike.

  BC,  I think there's never a dumb question. I just didn't explain that the original exams done in Kiev will be expired by the time the family returns home. Also we had the med and vaccination records translated before val and Ihot left Ukr. last year and the health dept. here accepted those when Ihor started school here. The only thing extra we did for him was get the 3 shot series of hepititis B vaccine. Both Val and Ihor tested positive for TB only because of the BCG vaccine they received in Ukr. as infants. because of that they will always test positive using the skin test they use here in the U.S. We opted to do chest X-rays to solve that question. That was all discussed in a post back in Sept sometime.

  Jet,  you are correct in what you told BC.

 Catz,  so far none of Val's acquaintences have been through an interview or have yet used a Civil surgeon. I logged into the USCIS and went to form I-693 and pulled up the CS's in our region and many were listed. I called a few in Nashville and Memphis and asked there prices for exams. Prices were varied but all in the same ballpark.

Vaughn,  Looks like the effects of inflation since 2003. After all, the cost of those Doc's B'mers and Mercedes has risen as well. Leonid is well and I'll write a post in the thread where I started that discussion. It's quite amazing. that was something else we learned last week too. Last week was a VERY INTERESTING WEEK FOR US.

Thanks to all that have replied to my post. 16 days and counting till out trip to Ukr. It's going to be nice to back. # 9 for me.
 

[Son of Clyde]

Start2, We are doing fine. Another vague item, some people say the medical exam expires a year from the time you file the AOS. Who knows what to believe anymore? I decided to opt for the new exams.

[START2]

Clyde, I have learned that when in doubt, do what you feel you need to do to make the process as smooth and painless as possible. Never give the USCIS credit for doing anything in a timely manner or following an SOP. It just doesn't apply. By doing the exam now they will not have the opp to say your previous exam is now expired. Come back in 3 months with new results. The sooner they are out of our lives the better. I think it's worth the couple extra dollars. I hate to even think about the 12 million+ people that will soon be allowed  to by-pass the system and laws that we have live by. I better stop at that before I go off on a tangent and be labeled a............. Not about certain individuals but about our protective govment. Let me know how your interview goes in june.

[Jet]

I wonder if that means they have the forms from the embassy.

Do you remember wayyyy back when you all were sweating bullets while assembling your I-129f petitions to submit to whichever service center? Guess what, you'll soon be reunited  . When you go to the interview, they will have a copy of everything you ever filed in front of them on the desk, all of it (including medical exam, EAD's, AP's, AR-11's, interview notes from the embassy, and the petition that started it all). You'll likely be surprised to see how fat your file has grown over the last year(s).