CP medicals help please..

vanchita

New Member
Folks,

My docs are in the consulate right now and i am expecting a jan/feb interview schedule. We went in for a regular health check up and the doc came up with a positive skin test/x ray for TB for my husband. The doc wants to proceed with some more tests and put him on TB medications.. I am now worried about how this will affect the gc processing? If he comes on TB medications how will it affect the medicals ?? Can some one help please..

vanchita
 
vanchita said:
Folks,

My docs are in the consulate right now and i am expecting a jan/feb interview schedule. We went in for a regular health check up and the doc came up with a positive skin test/x ray for TB for my husband. The doc wants to proceed with some more tests and put him on TB medications.. I am now worried about how this will affect the gc processing? If he comes on TB medications how will it affect the medicals ?? Can some one help please..

vanchita

The following is my impression based on what I read in the forum.

I am not an authority on the medical issues but they say that most Indians
test positive for these tests (I am assuming that you are Indians). If this
turns out to be a real case of TB then your husband needs to disclose this
fact to the doctor during the physicals in India. This will be noted in the
medical reports. You will understand that I am stating the above with no
knowledge about whether, the symptoms are apparent in the X-ray or not.
At the time of the interview the first test is an X-ray, and they will conduct
the skin test only if there are some indications in the X-ray.

What happens at that point is, you will still be issued your Immigrant Visa.
At the Port of Entry they record this and I belive they take some action so that his health is monitored for the duration of the medication.

Research the forum for posts specific on this subject.

Hope your husband gets better soon.

Raju
 
TB Test

The skin TB test is not significant for most Indians, since bcg vaccine given in childhood may produce a false +ve. Most importantly it is the X-RAY which is important. If the doctor see's something on X-ray, then you will need further investigation. But based on the skin test, going for TB medicine is not a good idea.
 
Thanks Raju and zimby.

When we went in for the normal checkup, my husbands xrays were done and it looks like there were some symptoms and thats when the doc ordered for a skin test. The tests are positive(could be a false +ve b'se of the BCG vaccination). Now that he will be on medics, most probably we will hit the interview dates when he is half way through the medications. I am not sure what the consulate would do in such cases. Thats what worries me the most. Do you think that it would be any good to postpone the interview dates ?? Or should we just go and tell the medicos in india that we are already on the treatment(Would this be a reason for them to reject the visa??)

Vanchita.
 
Re

I guess the real question is weather your husband has TB or not. I know someone who was first tested on the skin, then a X-RAY was ordered whoich was clear, but they still insested that medicines be tabken for 1 year. She never took them & the consular process went fine too. Here in US the doctors can make a huge fuss about it. My Questions still is the same

"Is the diagnosis TB?." If it is, you may faces problems in India, since they will do the X-Ray. There are a few places where they ask a question - if there is a communicable disease.

My advice, send the X-Ray to India & get a couple of 2nd opinion. Do the same in US. And finally talk to your lawyer.

Good luck
 
CP and +ve TB Test -----

vanchita said:
Folks,
My docs are in the consulate right now and i am expecting a jan/feb interview schedule. We went in for a regular health check up and the doc came up with a positive skin test/x ray for TB for my husband. The doc wants to proceed with some more tests and put him on TB medications.. I am now worried about how this will affect the gc processing? If he comes on TB medications how will it affect the medicals ?? Can some one help please..
vanchita

ok, some clarifications for u:

1. Many people may test +ve for TB skin test. It does not mean they have Active TB. This just means they have been exposed to the bug that causes TB.

2. After this, the doctor will do a chest x-ray and a physical exam to decide if one has/has not Active TB.

3. If someone has Active TB, he/she will need treatment with 3 or 4 drugs for 6-9 months.

4. If only Skin test is +ve (latent TB infection), then US recommendations are to treat with 1 drug for 9 months. However, one may refuse this treatment (the doc will ask you to sign a refusal form). The risk (of not being treated for latent TB infection) is that if your immune system goes down due to any reason, you may get Active TB, and thus posing risk of infecting others.

5. Just having a +ve TB skin test should not have any effect on your CP interview.

6. It is the active TB that really needs treatment and would make one temporarily inadmissible on "medical grounds of inadmissibility". Once you have been treated for Active TB, you are not longer infective to others and eligible for admission to US.

See the medical requirements: http://uscis.gov/graphics/medical_exam.htm
to quote from this webpage:
***************
What are “medical grounds of inadmissibility”?
“Medical grounds of inadmissibility” is a term used when an applicant has a health condition which is a public health concern to the United States. Under the U.S. immigration laws, the medical grounds of inadmissibility are divided into four categories:
* communicable disease of public health significance;
* lack of required vaccinations (for immigrant visa applicants only);
* physical or mental disorders with harmful behavior; and
* drug abuse/drug addiction.
*****************************************

if you want further info on this TB test and treatment business .... read this:
http://www.guideline.gov/summary/summary.aspx?doc_id=4004

or better still, for a lay person, read this >>>
http://patients.uptodate.com/topic.asp?file=inf_immu/6545
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tb

You got it right buddy!. Everything that j1 has posted is correct. Going for medication based on +ve skin test seems like a bad idea. I guess half of people living in India need the medication.
 
please advice.

Thanks folks for the reply. We did more tests and stuff and the doctors here confirmed its Tuberclosis and have started the 6 months treatment.
Now if we go to Cp interview and claim that we are under treatment, will it call for a denial.??

Is there a way to postpone the interview for say 6 months? Please advice

vanchita
 
vanchita said:
Thanks folks for the reply. We did more tests and stuff and the doctors here confirmed its Tuberclosis and have started the 6 months treatment.
Now if we go to Cp interview and claim that we are under treatment, will it call for a denial.??

Is there a way to postpone the interview for say 6 months? Please advice

vanchita

I can not answer one way or the other if the situation would result in a denial. But if I were to guess, I would say it would not. However they
may want to track the progress of recovery and the medication.

I think you can postpone upto a maximum period of 1 year from the date
the file reached the Consulate.

My advise would be to consult a good Immigration Attorney (you can talk
to most of them on an hourly basis) and discuss your specific problem.

It would also be a good idea to actually collect the phone numbers of panel
doctors in India and try and talk to them. You would be lucky if they actually
talk to you, but if they do, you will get the best advise.

Raju
 
CP and TB and interview

vanchita said:
Thanks folks for the reply. We did more tests and stuff and the doctors here confirmed its Tuberclosis and have started the 6 months treatment.
Now if we go to Cp interview and claim that we are under treatment, will it call for a denial.??
Is there a way to postpone the interview for say 6 months? Please advice
vanchita

it depends on what kind of TB he has.

TB affects many organs in the body ... eg TB of lungs, TB of heart, TB of bones, TB of kidneys etc etc. It is the TB of lungs that is considered highly Infective to others; and depending on test results, the person may be put in an "Isolation room" for 2-3 weeks until the person has taken treatment and is no longer a risk to others. However she/he still has to finish the whole treatment.

Normally, 3 weeks of treatment is sufficient to make a person non-infective to others, and the treating doctor can issue you a certificate that the person is NOT infective to others, is on treatment blah blah ...

for postment of CP interview. i am not clear how do you do that.
 
aonflux said:
Are there any specific doctors one needs to go to for CP medicals?

Every US Consulate has a list of identified Panel Doctors. The applicants are required to pick a doctor from the panel and get their reports.

They also specify the laboratory (ies) where you need to go for tests.

Raju
 
Raju,

Apologize for the off-topic post but I needed some quick advice and was looking for an active thread were you'd posted (blame it on your reputation;).

A quick question about the notarized employment support letter from the current employer that we are supposed to submit during the interview. Do we need just one original letter or two sets of originals?

The reason I'm asking this is that one of the threads which has a comprehensive compilation of the documents required during interview, lists the Original and Notarized Employment Support letter TWICE.

Thanks much!

IFL
 
ifeellucky said:
Raju,

Apologize for the off-topic post but I needed some quick advice and was looking for an active thread were you'd posted (blame it on your reputation;).

A quick question about the notarized employment support letter from the current employer that we are supposed to submit during the interview. Do we need just one original letter or two sets of originals?

The reason I'm asking this is that one of the threads which has a comprehensive compilation of the documents required during interview, lists the Original and Notarized Employment Support letter TWICE.

Thanks much!

IFL

One Notarized original is enough. You may keep copies in the files of your dependents.

Raju
 
aonflux,

As raju said ... there's a panel of doctors.

depending on the consulate, the labs+doctors (=hospitals) might be the same (e.g., Mumbai). So only 1 trip.
 
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