By Sam Hou on March 27, 2023
Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, is used by an applicant in the United States to apply for lawful permanent resident status or adjust status. On Feb 10, 2023, USCIS reminded the petitioner to submit initial evidence to support the petition and to avoid a potential RFE. In the announcement, Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, was mentioned particularly.
What is Form I-693?
A person seeking an immigration benefit and who is subject to the health-related grounds of inadmissibility must establish that he or she is not inadmissible on health-related grounds. The examination must be done by a doctor designated by USCIS, and the results are recorded on Form I-693. A designated civil surgeon can be found at https://www.uscis.gov/tools/find-a-civil-surgeon.
Generally, Form I-693 must be signed by the civil surgeon no more than 60 days before the filing date of the application for the underlying immigration benefit, and Form I-693 retains evidentiary value for two years after the signature date. USCIS has waived the 60-day signature requirement from Dec 9, 2021, to Mar 31, 2023.
Although applicants may submit Form I-693 at any time after filing the immigration benefit application (but before USCIS’s final adjudication), it is recommended to submit it concurrently with the immigration benefit application to avoid receiving an RFE from USCIS.
Edition Date Reminders
Applicants filing Form I-485 on or after Dec 23, 2022, must use the 12/23/22 edition of Form I-485. For Form I-693, if the civil surgeon signs it on or after Oct 5, 2022, applicants must use the 07/19/22 edition of Form I-693. Using wrong edition of the forms will be rejected by USCIS.
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