Here is how my successful trip to Madrid went.
Arrived in Madrid on Sunday, I stayed in the Husa Serrano Hotel, which is about 5 mins walk to the embassy. The Hotel is ok, decent quality and reasonably priced.
I was with my wife and 4 year old child, we had the medicals at Unidad Medica, which is about 15 min walk from the hotel.
Arrived for the medical at 10.30, it cosisted of.
Me: Short questionnaire with some very basic medical history questions, brief physical examination, weight, height, looks in eyes, feels neck, checks hearing, feels abdomin. Did not have to strip, only removed my shoes. Then went to the nurse who took blood to test for syphillis, checked vaccinations. I did not have a vaccination card available, she said I need to have 2 jabs, MMR and TDAP. These were available at the Madrid vacciantion cantre free of charg, she gave me a map and details of the jabs I needed. This centre is about 20 mins walk for the medical centre, you just turn up, ask for the jabs, show a passport and they give them to you, with a print out of the jab which you have to take back to the medical centre when you go to pick up your medical results document.
I also had to have a chest x-ray, at the local hospital. They gave me a piece of paper to take there and a map, it is about 15 minutes walk from the centre. You just handed the paper over, they took the x-ray, the hospital send the x-ray picture straight to the medical centre.
My wife was not required to take any vaccinations or chest x-ray as she is 2 months pregnant, everything else is the same.
My child did not need an x-ray or blood test, but did need a Mantoux TB test. For this they do an injection in the arm, you have to go back 48 hours later for the result. This 48 hours later was on the same day as visa appointment, the nurse suggested that I should go to the embassy first, tell them I needed to go back to the centre the same morning to finish the medical.
I collected the results for me and my wife on the tuesday.
Wednesday morning, Arrived at embassy at 8.30, showed the appointment letter, and was allowed in. You have to go through security, you cant take much in, just take your documents, we also had some food and drink for my child.
We were issued a number by the receptionist,he checked our name on a list he had and explained to just wait until your number comes up on the board.
I waited only 15 mins or so, and was called up to the desk. The women was Spanish, who checked our original application form, then said we will take all of the documents. Tip 1. If there is more than 1 person in your application, have all documents arranged by person, as that is how they ask for them. Have photocopies of everything, and hand over the original and photocopy of each document as they ask for it. The lady seemed very happy that I had all of the documents well arranged, with copies. It takes a while to go through them all, so if you are organised it is easier, and makes the staff happy (you may need their help if there is anything wrong, so be as nice as you can).
They asked me for...
Birth Certificate (All of us)
Marriage Certificate
Police Certificates (Just me + Wife, all countries with 12 months residence)
Education Certificates (Just me)
She asked for anything like a bank statement, letter of employment, or anything like that. She was very general, I gave her a pension statement from my current employer that I receive as cash when I leave, which is about USD 17000. She seemed happy with that.
I also had an I-134 affadavit, which she did not ask for. I offered it, she said it was not needed, but as I have it, she would take it. She said it is better to give as much as possible, but it was not needed.
When doing documents for my child, I explained that I still had to go back to the medical centre for the Mantoux test, she said fine, and wrote this in the Pending section of the form she was filling in.
Then I had to go to the cashier and pay, this is where my 'fun' started. Tip 2, take CASH with you, do not go thinking you will pay using a visa card. I had double the required money in my account, but my Visa debit card was declined. After calling my bank, being very nice to the cashier (dont forget, be nice to these people, I needed her help, she could have told to me to away, but she helped me), I managed to work out that there is some miscommunication between the card systems. You are trying to pay using an American card payment system, as if you were in the US, my visa card was issued by a British bank. Now, in the UK, if you try to spend a large amount of money, the payment is often referred, the cashier calls the number on the machine, you speak to the bank and after confirming your identity, it gets authorised. My bank confirmed that my payment was awaiting authorisation, but the cashier in the embassy just got declined payment. We tried to pay for just 1 visa, 819 dollars, and it worked, then tried the 2nd, declined again. So, I transferred some money to my other card, and paid for visa number 2, but that was as far as I could get. Now, here I really needed the cashiers help, I had been really nice to her, and she aid she would go to speak to them, and see if I can pay the 3rd visa next day. They agreed.
I was then called back to the window for fingerprints. Then back for the 3rd time for the interview. This was with an American women, very friendly, and just asked a couple of questions that I would describe as 'polite conversation'. She asked where I might go, why I wanted to go to the US. Then said the visa is approved and what will happen next.
That was it.
I then had to return to the medical centre, and collect my childs medical results. I also managed to transfer money around my bank accounts, and some to my wife's, so that we could withdraw enough cash out of the ATM to pay for the last visa. (Thankfully the UK bank system now does these transfers immediately, or this wouldnt have worked)
I went back to the embassy, paid for the last visa, and handed over my childs medical. So everything completed, but after a real battle. I was so close to losing the visas because of paying via card, I think I was lucky that I managed to sort it out. So my advice is pay cash, you are paying via the US card payment system, your card may not work as you expect.
I will say that the embassy staff were exceptionally nice, I would say they wanted to issue the visas, and would try to help through any issues.
Apart from my payment nightmare, it was very easy. Just make sure you have all of the documents you need.
Good luck everyone else.
Arrived in Madrid on Sunday, I stayed in the Husa Serrano Hotel, which is about 5 mins walk to the embassy. The Hotel is ok, decent quality and reasonably priced.
I was with my wife and 4 year old child, we had the medicals at Unidad Medica, which is about 15 min walk from the hotel.
Arrived for the medical at 10.30, it cosisted of.
Me: Short questionnaire with some very basic medical history questions, brief physical examination, weight, height, looks in eyes, feels neck, checks hearing, feels abdomin. Did not have to strip, only removed my shoes. Then went to the nurse who took blood to test for syphillis, checked vaccinations. I did not have a vaccination card available, she said I need to have 2 jabs, MMR and TDAP. These were available at the Madrid vacciantion cantre free of charg, she gave me a map and details of the jabs I needed. This centre is about 20 mins walk for the medical centre, you just turn up, ask for the jabs, show a passport and they give them to you, with a print out of the jab which you have to take back to the medical centre when you go to pick up your medical results document.
I also had to have a chest x-ray, at the local hospital. They gave me a piece of paper to take there and a map, it is about 15 minutes walk from the centre. You just handed the paper over, they took the x-ray, the hospital send the x-ray picture straight to the medical centre.
My wife was not required to take any vaccinations or chest x-ray as she is 2 months pregnant, everything else is the same.
My child did not need an x-ray or blood test, but did need a Mantoux TB test. For this they do an injection in the arm, you have to go back 48 hours later for the result. This 48 hours later was on the same day as visa appointment, the nurse suggested that I should go to the embassy first, tell them I needed to go back to the centre the same morning to finish the medical.
I collected the results for me and my wife on the tuesday.
Wednesday morning, Arrived at embassy at 8.30, showed the appointment letter, and was allowed in. You have to go through security, you cant take much in, just take your documents, we also had some food and drink for my child.
We were issued a number by the receptionist,he checked our name on a list he had and explained to just wait until your number comes up on the board.
I waited only 15 mins or so, and was called up to the desk. The women was Spanish, who checked our original application form, then said we will take all of the documents. Tip 1. If there is more than 1 person in your application, have all documents arranged by person, as that is how they ask for them. Have photocopies of everything, and hand over the original and photocopy of each document as they ask for it. The lady seemed very happy that I had all of the documents well arranged, with copies. It takes a while to go through them all, so if you are organised it is easier, and makes the staff happy (you may need their help if there is anything wrong, so be as nice as you can).
They asked me for...
Birth Certificate (All of us)
Marriage Certificate
Police Certificates (Just me + Wife, all countries with 12 months residence)
Education Certificates (Just me)
She asked for anything like a bank statement, letter of employment, or anything like that. She was very general, I gave her a pension statement from my current employer that I receive as cash when I leave, which is about USD 17000. She seemed happy with that.
I also had an I-134 affadavit, which she did not ask for. I offered it, she said it was not needed, but as I have it, she would take it. She said it is better to give as much as possible, but it was not needed.
When doing documents for my child, I explained that I still had to go back to the medical centre for the Mantoux test, she said fine, and wrote this in the Pending section of the form she was filling in.
Then I had to go to the cashier and pay, this is where my 'fun' started. Tip 2, take CASH with you, do not go thinking you will pay using a visa card. I had double the required money in my account, but my Visa debit card was declined. After calling my bank, being very nice to the cashier (dont forget, be nice to these people, I needed her help, she could have told to me to away, but she helped me), I managed to work out that there is some miscommunication between the card systems. You are trying to pay using an American card payment system, as if you were in the US, my visa card was issued by a British bank. Now, in the UK, if you try to spend a large amount of money, the payment is often referred, the cashier calls the number on the machine, you speak to the bank and after confirming your identity, it gets authorised. My bank confirmed that my payment was awaiting authorisation, but the cashier in the embassy just got declined payment. We tried to pay for just 1 visa, 819 dollars, and it worked, then tried the 2nd, declined again. So, I transferred some money to my other card, and paid for visa number 2, but that was as far as I could get. Now, here I really needed the cashiers help, I had been really nice to her, and she aid she would go to speak to them, and see if I can pay the 3rd visa next day. They agreed.
I was then called back to the window for fingerprints. Then back for the 3rd time for the interview. This was with an American women, very friendly, and just asked a couple of questions that I would describe as 'polite conversation'. She asked where I might go, why I wanted to go to the US. Then said the visa is approved and what will happen next.
That was it.
I then had to return to the medical centre, and collect my childs medical results. I also managed to transfer money around my bank accounts, and some to my wife's, so that we could withdraw enough cash out of the ATM to pay for the last visa. (Thankfully the UK bank system now does these transfers immediately, or this wouldnt have worked)
I went back to the embassy, paid for the last visa, and handed over my childs medical. So everything completed, but after a real battle. I was so close to losing the visas because of paying via card, I think I was lucky that I managed to sort it out. So my advice is pay cash, you are paying via the US card payment system, your card may not work as you expect.
I will say that the embassy staff were exceptionally nice, I would say they wanted to issue the visas, and would try to help through any issues.
Apart from my payment nightmare, it was very easy. Just make sure you have all of the documents you need.
Good luck everyone else.