A Primer On Immigration Medical Exam

By Author: Clara Heisler
Total Articles: 20
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If you are one of those people who see the US as the realization of your dreams, then you better start working on your documents to ensure that you get your visa the smoothest and fastest way possible. And one of the areas that most people have problems with when it comes to having their visa approved or their status adjusted is the medical exam.

Medical exams help the authorities verify if someone wanting to set foot on the US soil is of sound mind and body. However, before anyone can undergo a medical exam, he or she would need to get in touch first with the consulate or the US embassy. A specific form would be given to the applicant to fill out. The authorities would also give the applicant the contact number and names of the panel physicians or civil surgeons who are authorized to carry out and certify the medical exam.

Usually the immigration medical exams include a physical check-up, a Tuberculin skin test for applicants two years and above, a blood test for applicants who are aged 15 years or more, and vaccination records that attest that the applicant had all the current vaccinations required by the US ...
... public health office. Some of the vaccinations that an applicant should have include measles, mumps, polio, pertussis, and hepatitis B.

Applicants who need to have their status adjusted as well as those who are holders of temporary visas are required to undergo the immigration physical exam. This is also the case for asylum-seekers as well as refugees. Authorities, however, allow applicants to apply for a medical waiver. In order to be eligible for a medical waiver, however, you need to either have a son or daughter who is a US citizen or a permanent resident, or is a self-petitioning applicant.

For applicants who are pregnant, authorities may forego certain parts of the immigration physical exam until such time that the applicant has given birth. On the other hand, those who are kept by their religious beliefs from undergoing vaccination may apply for a waiver of the vaccination requirement.

Once an applicant has undergone the immigration physical, the results would need to be certified by the civil surgeon or the panel physician. The results would be sealed in an envelope which you should submit along with the other requirements unopened.