Confirmed Jan 2004 appointment in Chennai Consulate

V

VA2

Registered Users (C)
Hello,
Thought it would be a good idea to have a thread for confirmed Jan 04 Chennai appointments.

Considering how resourcesful some of the other threads have been, I'm very confident this focused thread will prove useful to anyone under similar conditions.

I got an e-mail from the Chennai consulate stating my appointment date as 21st Jan @ 10:00 am.

I'm thinking of leaving before 13th Jan to finish all medical formalities and staying in India for at least 20 days after in case anything goes wrong during the appointment.

In other words my trip would be between 13th Jan - 12th Feb.

Any comments, does that sound like a a good schduele.

Thanks for your help.

My cptracker.com ID is VA.
 
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VA2:

Congrats on your interview appointment! The travel plan looks great! Plan to schedule your medical asap!

All the best!
 
Just wondering - were u able to get the plane tickets? Last time I checked I was told that the return is not possible until march.
 
Return from bbay via amsterdam to detroit/ minneapolis is available on KLM on or after 1/26/04. (averaging $1700 +/- $100 range). Getting chennai to bbay and usa domestic should not be an issue!
 
kd1403:
Thanks, about the medical appointment, I was under the impression I will be told which doctor to go to by the embassy people (right now I have not received packet 4, just an e-mail from the embassy) Is that a correct assumption.

I was thinking of getting many of the required vaccinations or the certificates from hospitals here, which might reduce the time I spend in the doctors indicated by the embassy.

rvalla:
So far I have given my information to 4 travel agents, I'm waiting for quotes from all of them. I will post here as soon as I get some info.

Also, 2 general questions Is it a good idea to have a open ended return date on my ticket. I mean, if there is something goes wrong with my appointment, I can postpone my travel back to the US.


Another general question. The visa stamp on my passport expired in nov 2002, I have visa approval letter (extension) till 2005 (I think it is called I-797). But I did not get it stamped as I was thinking of coming here anyway. Anything I should be worried about regarding that.

Thanks once again to everyone who can be helpful.
 
va2:

No problems! Medical appoiontment have to be scheduled by the gc canddiates themselves. Medical appointments are not scheduled by the consulate/ ins. You can call one of the listed hospital for chennai to schedule an appointment.

Vaccines taken in usa or any checkups done in usa may NOT be accepted. All immigrant medicals should happen at one of hospitals listed by your consulate (chennai). At the same time, if you or your dependents if any have had a medical condition for which one is taking medicines regularly or has undergone a surgery in the past, please plan to carry relevant papers to avoid delays during immigrant medical checkup in chennai.

Make sure the 4 travel agents do not try to book you on same airlines coz that will result in ticket cancellations without your knowledge! Avoid open ended return date on my ticket. Have a fixed date. These days you get one-time change date tickets for $100 more...take such a ticket if you are not sure about the exact date of your return! Dont worry if you have all your document then nothing will go wrong with your interview!

There is no issue with visa approval and travelling to india for cp interview. I did the same and thousands of folks are doing it today. The only thing to worry about is since you do not have a stamped usa visa and if you fly thru certain countries such as UK/ France and some others you will need to get a transit visa of that country for your layover in between flights on the way to india. Search for transit visa and you will find your answers!
 
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I have my interview on Jan 27th at 11am. I am planning to leave around mid January and come back on Feb 1st.

I am in the same boat as GCSucks2003. I am wondering if I should go to Chennai early and complete my medical exam. My interview is on Tuesday. I don't want to put off the medical until Monday. If I get it done on Friday, I will be sitting in Chennai for three days with nothing to do.

Does anyone know if the medical exams are done on Saturday or Sunday?
 
bangaloreman,

If the interview is on wednesday then you have 2 weekdays to get medicals done. If on tuesday then it is better to get it done on friday itself. just my opinion. leaving just one day sounds risky.
 
bangaloreman:

Immigrant Medicals in India do not happen on weekends. Also avoid doing on Monday since it is too close!

Best option is to do that Friday before your interview!

I do understand that you probably have to stay in Chennai until Tuesday evening or do medicals on Friday and fly back to bangalore and return to chennai on monday night! If I were you I would stay back in chennai and there is plenty to look around chennai. Nice places to visit!

Or as always there is a night train from chennai to bangalore and return (train name you can find from bangalore train station) which you can catch after your medicals!

Check if there are other folks in your situation ...may be one can have a get-together in chennai of all immigration.com forum members!
 
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Thanks kd1403.

I am also bending more towards the Friday medicals. Though I did find out that the Lister Lab and the Doctors are available on Saturdays too.

Yeah...I might go visit Mahabalipuram and a few other places and relax before I head over for my interview on Tuesday.

So who else is scheduled for Jan. Lets get together folks:

So far

VA2
Bangaloreman
 
Hello All,
Sorry I did not post my developments in the last few days. I was waiting for confirmation on air tickets. Please find my developments on various issues below:

Air Tickets: (rvalla)
I blocked my tickets on KLM (via Amsterdam) to Delhi. I leave on 14th Jan (wed) from Houston arriving very late (11:30 pm) in Delhi. Then I travel separately to Hyderabad.
Tickets were available both for to and fro. I'm going to Delhi and not Mumbai for personal reasons, for everyone else Mumbai should work. I'm looking to visiting friends on my way back to US. Amsterdam is good because you do not need a transit visa for changing planes (if you don't have the latest H-1b stamped in your passport). I'm leaving for US on the 9th. That means I will have 19 days in India after the interview, if anything goes wrong in there.

Any comments on the ternary , once again it is -> Jan 14th to Feb. 9th (appointment on 21st).

Medicals: (bangaloreman, GCsucks2003)
My appointment , like GCsucks2003, is on 21st @ 10 am. and like mentioned in his thread about medicals, I have decided to do my tests on monday morning and visit the doctor in the evening. It looks like it will not be a risk to do it that close to the appointment (at least by the opinion of all the people in that thread). Especially because it fits with the guidelines of having the tests and medical exam being done 2 working days before the appointment. Also, I have not had any medical problems since my high school days, so I do not expect any thing that may require additional testing. I will make the appointment with the doctor in Madras sometime this week hopefully it will not be a problem getting an appointment so early. I have noticed that Lister does not take appointments. Hopefully it should be possible to get the reports the same day as we can go to the doctors.

Any comments (kd1403 or anyone else) on my plans for the medicals.

Stay in Madras:
bangloreman, I was thinking of arriving in Chinnai on the 18th morning (sunday) and doing the medicals on monday (19th) and leave, either 21st late night or 22nd morning.
GCsucks2003 is also likely to have the same schedule. But I don't think it will be a big deal if you end up staying a couple of extra days (sat, sun) if you want to do your medicals on fri.

Photographs:
Just wondering, I already have 6 immigration style photographs I took in the US that I intend to take with me. Would I need more? Would I need from a studio in Chinnai?

Right now, that's about it. Hopefully as we (everyone involved in the thread) go about exchanging notes, it should be possible to make informed decisions regarding this rather important step in our lives. Thanks a lot everybody

see ya,
 
kd1403:
By the way thanks for the transit visa information. I especially sought out KLM (or Lufthansa) becuase of the problems you had talked about in Paris and London
 
"Vaccines taken in usa or any checkups done in usa are NOT accepted..".

Actually if you have vaccinations from US and have records from the doctor/hospital, the panel doctor in Chennai will usually accept it and not give you the shots again. If you are concerned about any side-effects of the vaccine (specially if you have young kids) it makes sense to get them in the US. No other medical examinations are accepted though.
I got my vaccinations for myself and family in the US and did not have to get any shots in Chennai last october. I went to Dr. Vijayalakshmi.
 
va2:

All the best with your interview. I think the vacation you have taken is more than sufficient. And needless to say dont worry, nothing will go wrong @ your medicals or @ the cp interview!
 
A quick question about PCC. I currently live in Austin so I got my PCC from CGI Houston. But I used to live in Boston until 2001 and my passport was renewed there. I heard some where that PCC need to be from the CGI that issued the passport. Will there be a problem regarding that in the interview.
 
No there will be no problem! PCC issued by CG Houston vs CG New York (for Boston jurisdiction) would still look the same except the letterhead would read NY instead of Houston.

So dont worry about it...you did the right thing as long as the indian pcc issued by houston consulate is valid (referring to the 6 month validity period)!
 
I got the interview letter from Chennai consulate in the US but did not get the P4.

If one of guys get a copy of the P4 please list the contents and required docs that P4 has mentioned.

Thanks
 
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