I’ve noticed a few questions about the medical exam so I thought I would post an account of my medical to give people an idea of what to expect. Just like the interview, this could of course be very different depending what country you are in, but it should give you an idea.
Whole process took about 2 hours, but most of that time was just spent in the waiting rooms. Everybody was very friendly and knew exactly what they were doing. It was obvious they had all been through this procedure many, many times before.
I arrived 5 minutes before my 10am appointment and handed over the forms from the consulate, three passport photos and my passport. The receptionist checked all my details and that the photos were definitely of me then stapled each of the photos to a different one of the forms. One for the doctor’s medical, one of the blood sample and one for the x-ray.
Waiting, waiting, waiting….
A nurse took me into an exam room where she explained what the procedure was going to be and where I will have to go after the doctor sees me for my blood test and x-ray (they were not in the same building). She weighed me, measured my height and checked my blood pressure and pulse rate. She then discussed my vaccination history with me. I had all the standard vaccinations when I was young but didn’t have any proof of them so she decided I should get an antibody blood test to confirm that there were still enough antibodies present (apparently they decrease over time, so even if you have the evidence of the vaccinations, they may want to do this anyway). The ones she wanted to confirm for me were mumps, measles, rubella and varicella (the specific list they will want to check depends on your age). I actually caught chicken pox (varicella) as a child, but didn’t have any proof of this either so it was added to the blood test too (although she said that if I had any scars they could identify as chicken pox scars then that would have been enough, but I just didn’t have any). She also gave me a tetanus booster shot as I knew I hadn’t had one in about 16 years (and you are supposed to have them about every 10 years)
Back out to waiting room… waiting, waiting, waiting…
Doctor comes out and takes me into his room. Makes a little small talk about my current job and where I want to go in America and checks that the medical is for an immigrant visa (he said that he also has to do medicals for people convicted of drunk driving even if it’s just for a holiday visa). Stand up and take top off so that he can listen through a stethoscope to me breathing on left and right sides, front and back. Then gets me to stand in a corner, with my finger in one ear while he says three numbers and has me repeat them back (for a simple check of my hearing) then does the same with my finger in other ear. Gets me to lie down on my back so that he can feel my abdomen and asks if I have ever had any gastric problems. Asks me to stand back up and drop my jeans to my knees (but leave underwear on) and does a quick turn your head and cough hernia check (the feeling the lower abdomen one, not the cupping my boy bits one). He has me get dressed again then do an eyesight check. He then went through a bunch of questions on a checklist like “Have you ever been hospitalised?”, “Have you ever been treated for a psychiatric disorder?”, “Have you ever abused drugs or alcohol?”… and a bunch more like this. That was it, he patted me on the back and wished me luck.
It was then across the road (literally, just across the road) for the blood test. Waited for maybe 5-10 minutes at the most then into one of the little rooms where I had two vials of blood taken. Lab tech signed the form in the appropriate place and signed the passport photo that had been attached.
Finally off down the road for the x-ray. This time it was a bit further (maybe a 5 minute drive). Barely had to wait a minute before being taken back to x-ray room. Woman doing the x-ray looked at my top and then gave me a weird over sized t-shirt to change into (I had been wearing a polo shirt and she said the buttons would probably have shown up on the x-ray). Less than a minute later and the x-ray had been taken and I was changed back into my own top again. This time she kept the forms and said she would return them to the doctor for me along with the x-ray. All done, 12:00am.
A few days later the medical clinic called to let me know that there were no problems with the blood tests or x-ray and that my antibody levels were all still high enough that I didn’t need any new vaccinations. They told me they would send me a copy of the blood results for my own records and courier the medical report directly to the consulate.
Whole process took about 2 hours, but most of that time was just spent in the waiting rooms. Everybody was very friendly and knew exactly what they were doing. It was obvious they had all been through this procedure many, many times before.
I arrived 5 minutes before my 10am appointment and handed over the forms from the consulate, three passport photos and my passport. The receptionist checked all my details and that the photos were definitely of me then stapled each of the photos to a different one of the forms. One for the doctor’s medical, one of the blood sample and one for the x-ray.
Waiting, waiting, waiting….
A nurse took me into an exam room where she explained what the procedure was going to be and where I will have to go after the doctor sees me for my blood test and x-ray (they were not in the same building). She weighed me, measured my height and checked my blood pressure and pulse rate. She then discussed my vaccination history with me. I had all the standard vaccinations when I was young but didn’t have any proof of them so she decided I should get an antibody blood test to confirm that there were still enough antibodies present (apparently they decrease over time, so even if you have the evidence of the vaccinations, they may want to do this anyway). The ones she wanted to confirm for me were mumps, measles, rubella and varicella (the specific list they will want to check depends on your age). I actually caught chicken pox (varicella) as a child, but didn’t have any proof of this either so it was added to the blood test too (although she said that if I had any scars they could identify as chicken pox scars then that would have been enough, but I just didn’t have any). She also gave me a tetanus booster shot as I knew I hadn’t had one in about 16 years (and you are supposed to have them about every 10 years)
Back out to waiting room… waiting, waiting, waiting…
Doctor comes out and takes me into his room. Makes a little small talk about my current job and where I want to go in America and checks that the medical is for an immigrant visa (he said that he also has to do medicals for people convicted of drunk driving even if it’s just for a holiday visa). Stand up and take top off so that he can listen through a stethoscope to me breathing on left and right sides, front and back. Then gets me to stand in a corner, with my finger in one ear while he says three numbers and has me repeat them back (for a simple check of my hearing) then does the same with my finger in other ear. Gets me to lie down on my back so that he can feel my abdomen and asks if I have ever had any gastric problems. Asks me to stand back up and drop my jeans to my knees (but leave underwear on) and does a quick turn your head and cough hernia check (the feeling the lower abdomen one, not the cupping my boy bits one). He has me get dressed again then do an eyesight check. He then went through a bunch of questions on a checklist like “Have you ever been hospitalised?”, “Have you ever been treated for a psychiatric disorder?”, “Have you ever abused drugs or alcohol?”… and a bunch more like this. That was it, he patted me on the back and wished me luck.
It was then across the road (literally, just across the road) for the blood test. Waited for maybe 5-10 minutes at the most then into one of the little rooms where I had two vials of blood taken. Lab tech signed the form in the appropriate place and signed the passport photo that had been attached.
Finally off down the road for the x-ray. This time it was a bit further (maybe a 5 minute drive). Barely had to wait a minute before being taken back to x-ray room. Woman doing the x-ray looked at my top and then gave me a weird over sized t-shirt to change into (I had been wearing a polo shirt and she said the buttons would probably have shown up on the x-ray). Less than a minute later and the x-ray had been taken and I was changed back into my own top again. This time she kept the forms and said she would return them to the doctor for me along with the x-ray. All done, 12:00am.
A few days later the medical clinic called to let me know that there were no problems with the blood tests or x-ray and that my antibody levels were all still high enough that I didn’t need any new vaccinations. They told me they would send me a copy of the blood results for my own records and courier the medical report directly to the consulate.