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DV 2015 KENYA SELECTEES FORUM

The booster vaccines is cheaper even when administered at IOM and not all vaccines are repeated,further more you only get booster if your stay in Kenya exceed 3 weeks.
N/B: In mary land where my friend enrolled his children-All the three Jabs (hepatitis,Polio & TB..for children were administered for free.Other have reported it was catered for by the MEDICAID (commonly known as Obama care) which after enrolling takes effect within 2 weeks.The normal cost for vaccines in Maryland was without insurance $36.Try to Google the state you are moving to if its maryland I will give you the number of the person for more info.....
@Simon I thought Medicaid and obama care are two totally different things?. Through more light.
And for the issue of booster doses, i think it is safer to do it before you live, just incase you find that you have to pay for it more expensively when you reach the US.
 
Medicaid is a program for low income people. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid . It was around long before Obama became president.
There are various options to get kids vaccinated ranging from free (above) to cheap (immunization clinics) to paid for through health insurance.
Schools do not accept children without proper vaccinations. So even aside from the cost, another reason for not delaying is that you may find your child sits for weeks or months (depending what they need) without being able to go to school.
 
Hi guys does paying the USCIS fees before you go make the process any shorter, or is it the same time taken to receive your documentation,
thx.
 
Hi guys does paying the USCIS fees before you go make the process any shorter, or is it the same time taken to receive your documentation,
thx.
If you pay very soon after you arrive, no difference. You will not get your plastic green card if the fee is not paid so a long delay will affect it.
No effect on SSN card which will be sent regardless of USCIS fee being paid.
 
IOM- Administrates all the jabs ad require-Mostly for adults its 3 jabs and children is 4-5.(The Nurse at IOM is guided by your vaccination card.
Now IOM or any other Health facility can administer what they call ( BOOSTER JAB) This the one they told you-its not a new jab but it boost the earlier jabs and its cheaper than the earlier jabs at IOM. IOM nurse told me I can take them elsewhere-but if I go back to IOM they will issue a Certificate to that effect and not all are repeated.

@Simon thanks for all the info it's very helpful. As for the jabs we'll be doing them at City Hall the nurse recommended there since at IOM it will cost around 20k. We've decided to do them here before leaving we were advised by my relative in Texas.

Thanks for clarifying about the interview, I'm a lady so i needed to know so I can advise my hubby accordingly (to remain mute). I'll ask any further queries as they come to me. Actually we are returning to the US after being here for over a decade. We were there many years so I'm quite familiar with life there. But all the same a lot has changed since in terms of technology and their laws.
 
How did your friend's children get their immigrant visas without the required vaccinations?

@SusieQQQ i'm in agreement with you that it's safer to get the shots here. I don't want to risk keeping the kids home for a while or spend money on vaccines that we can use for something else. Thanks for the timely advise.
 
@
Medicaid is a program for low income people. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid . It was around long before Obama became president.
There are various options to get kids vaccinated ranging from free (above) to cheap (immunization clinics) to paid for through health insurance.
Schools do not accept children without proper vaccinations. So even aside from the cost, another reason for not delaying is that you may find your child sits for weeks or months (depending what they need) without being able to go to school.
@SusieQQQ, a question on kids schooling. How do they integrate immigrant kids with the rest as far as school calender is concerned? I understand most US schools calender runs between August and May. In Kenya we follow the calender years. Do they take new kids through some tests to gauge their appropriate grade? Do we need our kenyan school records to prove their educational levels? Hope am clear.
 
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@SusieQQQ, a question on kids schooling. How do they integrate immigrant kids with the rest as far as school calender is concerned? I understand most US schools calender runs between August and May. In Kenya we follow the calender years. Do they take new kids through some tests to gauge their appropriate grade? Do we need our kenyan school records to prove their educational levels? Hope am clear.

Kids in elementary and high schools are not tested prior to being assigned, they're usually assigned to the appropriate class/grade based on their age.
 
@Simon I thought Medicaid and obama care are two totally different things?. Through more light.
And for the issue of booster doses, i think it is safer to do it before you live, just incase you find that you have to pay for it more expensively when you reach the US.

Absolutely right. Medicaid IS NOT Obama care.
 
@Simon thanks for all the info it's very helpful. As for the jabs we'll be doing them at City Hall the nurse recommended there since at IOM it will cost around 20k. We've decided to do them here before leaving we were advised by my relative in Texas.

Thanks for clarifying about the interview, I'm a lady so i needed to know so I can advise my hubby accordingly (to remain mute). I'll ask any further queries as they come to me. Actually we are returning to the US after being here for over a decade. We were there many years so I'm quite familiar with life there. But all the same a lot has changed since in terms of technology and their laws.

That is a wise advice your relative has given you regrading the kids immunization. There's no doubt kids may be able to get immunization shots for free from the public health department, you however need to know the right place to go to in order to do that. Your host may not have the time to be running you around and like Susie noted, you don't want to end up keeping the kids at home while waiting for an opportunity to go get the free shots when they could have already started schooling and making new friends.
 
@

@SusieQQQ, a question on kids schooling. How do they integrate immigrant kids with the rest as far as school calender is concerned? I understand most US schools calender runs between August and May. In Kenya we follow the calender years. Do they take new kids through some tests to gauge their appropriate grade? Do we need our kenyan school records to prove their educational levels? Hope am clear.

Well, it's usually based on age, for older kids they look at school reports too - at least they did for us.
We also came from a calendar based year, where our kids had finished their grades in Dec last year at home and started in January here. Our younger child had been put ahead a year in SA and had finished first grade, on age alone she should have been put in kindergarten but they put her in first grade. So she went 'back' half a year grade wise but in age is still a year below her class, which she was used to anyway so we are happy with that. Our older one was put 'ahead' half a year into Grade 8 having finished Grade 7 in SA. They said this is partly age but they wanted her report cards and info from the school to assess as well; they focused on her English and Math grades and curriculums. I know a number of others from SA have said their older kids have been put 'back' at this age so I think it really depends on the school and child as well. Bring report cards and I would suggest for older children, if you have any textbooks or workbooks to show where they are especially in math it will be useful.
 
I thought Simon was talking of booster vaccinations after POE.
@Simon I thought Medicaid and obama care are two totally different things?. Through more light.
And for the issue of booster doses, i think it is safer to do it before you live, just incase you find that you have to pay for it more expensively when you reach the US.
True they medicaid and Obama care are different, I never stated a preference on how to go about it,my statement captured all scenario (the booster is cheaper at iom and a certificate is issued) but if you happen to be in the us, the vaccines might be given for free depending on which state but otherwise it costs $36 in maryland.i thing this a general view of information and you chose how to go about it.
 
Medicaid is a program for low income people. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid . It was around long before Obama became president.
There are various options to get kids vaccinated ranging from free (above) to cheap (immunization clinics) to paid for through health insurance.
Schools do not accept children without proper vaccinations. So even aside from the cost, another reason for not delaying is that you may find your child sits for weeks or months (depending what they need) without being able to go to school.
My post was a general view to those who are still in kenya (go to city hall, iom) those in usa and fir those in usa yo also get dome clue of how to go about it.yiu decide
 
My post was a general view to those who are still in kenya (go to city hall, iom) those in usa and fir those in usa yo also get dome clue of how to go about it.yiu decide

And my post was a general view to those who might not realise all the consequences if they wait till they are in the US. The more information people have the better the choices they can make. It is not just about cost.
 
@SusieQQQ i'm in agreement with you that it's safer to get the shots here. I don't want to risk keeping the kids home for a while or spend money on vaccines that we can use for something else. Thanks for the timely advise.
Am talking about the booster vaccines administered after having your visa and before immigrating.
 
And my post was a general view to those who might not realise all the consequences if they wait till they are in the US. The more information people have the better the choices they can make. It is not just about cost.
Absolutely and will make lots of delay and complicate your hosts schedules.
 
Well, it's usually based on age, for older kids they look at school reports too - at least they did for us.
We also came from a calendar based year, where our kids had finished their grades in Dec last year at home and started in January here. Our younger child had been put ahead a year in SA and had finished first grade, on age alone she should have been put in kindergarten but they put her in first grade. So she went 'back' half a year grade wise but in age is still a year below her class, which she was used to anyway so we are happy with that. Our older one was put 'ahead' half a year into Grade 8 having finished Grade 7 in SA. They said this is partly age but they wanted her report cards and info from the school to assess as well; they focused on her English and Math grades and curriculums. I know a number of others from SA have said their older kids have been put 'back' at this age so I think it really depends on the school and child as well. Bring report cards and I would suggest for older children, if you have any textbooks or workbooks to show where they are especially in math it will be useful.
Exactly the info I was looking for. So it's safer to carry along the school reports and some course text books from here. Thanks @SusieQQQ
 
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