ZZTopWereHere
Well Known Member
Thanks Price.Some people take weeks to get through the medical stage. I hear of them receiving a letter a week after the Visa interview asking them to attend a medical, so you were well prepared expecting the medical at interview and could respond accordingly.
In all fairness to other people and to the US embassy, it might just be that the consular processes have improved. I was handed three pages with all instructions on how to book an appointment including a first form to be filled in before checking in at the clinic. Finding a slot on the same day was mostly a matter of luck because I didn't (and probably couldn't) call the doctor's before being asked to do so by the embassy.
Still, there's further room for improvement. Immigrant visas, as opposed to non-immigrant ones, always require a medical check and therefore applicants are expected to get all medical results even before booking the interview at the embassy.
In cases like mine, it would be easy to have at least a question at booking time which would ask about alcohol and/or drugs related arrests in the last five years, which I understand is the condition that triggers a request for a medical according to the procedures publicly documented. Another trigger would be a history of (i.e. multiple) alcohol/drugs convictions even when older than 5 years.
On the contrary, as I have reported, at booking time (hence after submitting the DS-160) there is actually an odd question asking about "non-alcohol related arrests and convictions" which I'm wondering what would entail as that was clearly not my case.
At the end of my whole application and booking, the list of requested documents was just passport, a picture and the application and booking identifiers.
Maybe other people did not even bring the ACRO at the consular interview (albeit if you read the "small print" you should know you should have it ready at the first interview if you tick the box about arrests and convictions), and therefore they might have sent it later on to the embassy, to be then asked for the medical after weeks.
Thanks again Price.For a person not native to the UK, you have really got to grips with how things work here!
What I should have really learned better from all other Brits (and Irish, and Americans; Aussies and South Africans seem to be more tolerant) I've met in my life was a stricter attitude towards drinking and driving. I've always been fairly cautious, but in hindsight I've definitely always been close to the limit, if not slightly above as when I was arrested, when going out during the weekends with my wife. I've never been actually drunk, i.e. to the point of driving erratically, but I've always had a couple of glasses at dinner during weekends, whether I was driving or not.
My home country is socially more tolerant with drink driving although the limit is technically lower than the UK, and one further thing I've learned after my arrest is the "drunk in charge" offence which does not exist at all where I come from. To be honest, I had always considered a safe last resort to sleep in the car after a party with too many drinks involved and I have used such a "safety measure" a few times when I was younger and a tad wilder. Here in the UK that's clearly not an option, and therefore it's one more reason to stick to the simple rule of no drinks before driving regardless of any more or less sophisticated unit calculation.
I'm only eager to learn more "alcohol maths" during the rehab course for the purposes of "morning-after driving" (one more thing learned only recently), as there are times when I have to drive early in the morning even though I'm lucky enough to live close to where I work and I've always walked there in the morning, it's a 12-minute stroll.
Thanks and best regards,
Z
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