USCIS Announces Temporary Waiver On Medical Examinations
In today’s Blog update, we share with you the latest news about medical examinations filed by green card candidates.
Recently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declared that it is temporarily waiving the condition that civil surgeons sign Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, not above 60 days before an applicant applies for the underlying immigration benefit (including Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status). The temporary shift in the policy will be implemented until September 30, 2022.
What Brought Up The Change?
USCIS has declared that it is presenting this “temporary waiver” to assist applicants who have been unfavorably affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding processing delays that occurred due to the USCIS office closures in 2020. Eventually, all these aspects have caused applicants to undergo delays in completing the immigration medical examination known as Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination, and Vaccination Record.
The service has stated that this latest change will permit applicants to submit their underlying application for an immigration benefit (I-485 green card application) with a completed Form I-693, even if the civil surgeon signed the medical examination above 60 days prior. Such applicants will no more be required to go through another immigration medical examination given that the completed Form I-693 is otherwise valid.
Who Will Benefit From These Changes?
The temporary waiver will be beneficial to all candidates applying for adjustment of status to attain lawful permanent residency. The benefits also include the Afghan nationals evacuated under Operation Allies Welcome who have fulfilled immigration medical examinations at government-run facilities who could not apply for adjustment of status in between 60 days of the completed examination. Form I-693 is needed to confirm that green card applicants are not unacceptable to the United States on public health grounds. A designated USCIS civil surgeon must conduct the medical examination.
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