The Visa Medical

Hello everyone,

16 October 2014: It should be noted this entry was supposed to have been posted several weeks ago, but alas life gets in the way!

My apologies for not writing in a while again. Life has been hectic as always!
This entry is about my visa medical on 26th August. I didn't write earlier about this experience because to be honest, I didn't want to "relive" the day so soon again! However, I also am aware there is very little information on the internet about the medical, as I looked myself before mine, so I wanted to document it here.

The only doctors you can see for USA visa medicals are the ones specified by the US immigration authorities, which at time of writing (in the UK) are the Knightsbridge Doctors in London. My appointment was at 10.50am.

I left home very early, parking my car at a station near where I live and taking the train to London. It was raining, of course, which made things even more unpleasant than they already would be.
Arriving in London at London Bridge I discovered the Jubilee line wasn't stopping at Bond Street due to engineering works, which is exactly where I needed to get off. So, I found an alternate route and got off at Green Park. I had to walk in the rain the now longer distance to the doctors, just north of Oxford Street.

When you arrive, press the outdoor buzzer, then once inside the hallway, the door to the surgery is immediately on the right. No need to knock, just enter. Once inside there are two windows at reception. Somebody will check you in and ask for your documents.

I should note at this point that you will need to have already filled in the medical questionnaire before arrival (which you can find online). You will also need your police certificate if it hasn't already been submitted to the government, or a good photocopy of it, plus a US style passport photo (2 inches by 2 inches) and your passport. You will also need to provide your vaccination record, and make sure that your own surgery has given you a copy with your name and date of birth on it. As I discovered, a print out isn't enough. I gave them what I had, but had to go back to my doctor once I was home later that day, get a copy with my name and date of birth on, and email it to them. It wasn't a problem to do that, but it was an extra hassle on an already stressful day.

So, I gave my documents in, and was told to sit in the waiting area and fill out yet another questionnaire about my general health.

You will be called by a nurse to review your vaccination records and determine if you need any boosters. Of course, again, nobody informed me, nor was it apparent at any point during this process that I'd need an MMR. I had already gotten my DTP booster at my own doctors surgery but now I had to get an MMR too! I was not amused, especially since their booster fee was another £45 on the £245 medical exam fee. This day was not going well! So I had the MMR there and then. As a side note, you will also need to get the one month booster from you own doctor, around a month after this first one. I had mine just a couple of days ago. You may be required to provide evidence you had it, in the future.

After seeing the vaccination nurse, you have a chest X-ray to determine whether you have TB (because you wouldn't already know, right?!). I had to have mine taken twice (yay radiation?!) because the radiologist saw "a dark patch" and had to be sure it wasn't TB (like I said, like I wouldn't have already known anyway). If for some reason you are found to have TB you'll have to be treated for it and cleared again by these doctors at some later date before you can pass the medical and move to the US.

Once you've seen the radiologist you'll be called to see the panel doctor. The doctor will go through your questionnaire with you and ask questions about your general health and anything that you may have mentioned on your questionnaire that they feel needs further information, such as if you have suffered from depression or ever been hospitalised for any reason (operations, accidents, etc). The doctor will also check your height and weight, and ask you to read an eye chart (no idea why these would affect anything, and if they did, it'd be a gross violation of your rights and very discriminatory). Then, you will lay on a bed and have your blood pressure taken, and a blood test for STDs (some might call this having "blood drawn"). Men are also examined for testicular cancer.

If there is anything the doctor feels they need any more information on, they will tell you, and you might be given a form to take to your own doctor to request more information about whatever the case may be. If they don't require any more information, after everything described above, you'll sit and wait again to be called back to the reception window.

Once called, pay the fees due, and you'll be on your way! If you don't hear anything from them within about 3 working days, then you can safely assume your blood test and X-ray results were fine. A few days later you will get in the post a copy of your vaccination record, but on a special US Department of State form. It is imperative you keep this form safe, apparently.

So that was my experience. Overall the actual being there wasn't that bad, but I have to say, it is not an experience I want to ever repeat. Knowing these doctors have the power to basically decide your whole life is intense, and being injected, X-ray'd, prodded and poked by strangers is not nice. On top of that, getting there is a pain, especially if like when I went train stations are closed and it is pouring with rain.

Dan.