Everything You Should Know About Form I-693

When you enter the United States and are hoping to get a green card, you need to prove that you are actually apt for entering the country – and that your admission won’t pose any danger. While it may seem like one more unnecessary document to deal with, USCIS may require that you submit the Form I-693 – Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.

What Is Form I-693?

In order to protect the health of the people in the United States, foreign nationals will first have to prove that they are healthy enough to enter the country. That is to say, people will not be rejected if they have a disease such as diabetes or something that will not put the population in danger.

However, if you have a condition that can be deemed harmful for other people in the US, USCIS may deem you inadmissible. Overall, here are the four medical conditions that might prevent you from being deemed “admissible.”

• Communicable diseases that have great significance on the public health
• Drug addiction or abuse
• Failure to show proof of certain vaccines
• Mental or physical disorders that lead to harmful behavior

In this regard, USCIS requires that you submit Form I-693, where you provide the results of your medical exams. This exam is necessary to prove whether an applicant is fit for entering the United States or not.

Who Must Submit Form I-693?

Every person that wants to apply for permanent residence (i.e. green card) needs to prove that they are not inaccessible. They will have to provide proof that their medical records are in order, and they aren’t bringing in the country anything that might endanger the population.

Failure to provide the required documentation might have your application rejected, which means you have to be very careful about USCIS rules. You have to bring proof that your stay here won’t be dangerous for other people.

In some cases, you will have to submit the entire form. In other cases, you might only have to submit certain parts. This is generally the case when you already had a medical exam overseas.

How to Complete the I-693

Completing for, I-693 has a total of 10 parts, depending on who is signing the paper. The applicant is the one that matters to us right now – but there are also parts for interpreters, civil surgeons, and so on. To complete the applicant’s part, you will have to provide:

• Your full, legal name
• The address for the place you live in (a PO box will not work here)
• Your sex
• The date of your birth
• The name of the city, village, or town in which you were born
• The name of your birth country
• Or A-Number (Alien Registration Number) in the event that you have one
• The number of your USCIS online account, in the event that you have one

Once Part 1 is finished, you will also have to fill out Part 2. This is where you provide some contact information. The rest will have to be filled out by the interpreter and the civil surgeon. The processing steps are fairly similar to the steps for most green card applications.

Unlike other forms, the I-693 has no filing fee – and you will simply have to add the paperwork in your package for the green card application. The form can be filled out on a computer, a printed and mailed form – or you may simply find a legal professional that will fill out the form on your behalf.

How to Find a Doctor for the I-693 Medical Exam

This medical exam, in particular, may not be done by your family doctor. Only two doctor types may perform this exam – and you will have to choose one based on where you are applying from. So, here is what you have to do:

• Application from the US: You will have to go to a civil surgeon, which is a doctor that has been designated by USCIS.
• Application from Abroad: You will have to go for a panel physician, which is a doctor that has been authorized by the United States Department of Health.

When looking for a doctor, make sure that you know about their fees and availability. When it comes to civil surgeons, these fees may vary significantly, so find the most appropriate one for you.

I-693 Medical Exam Checklist

One important step of filing the form is to ensure that you have checked the following aspects:

• Your partial filling of the form (your doctor will handle the rest).
• A list of vaccines that you’ve previously had. The list has to be official, and if the language in which it was written is foreign, you will have to provide an authorized translation as well.
• List of any chronic medical conditions that you may have, as well as any other medications that you may be taking.
• If you’ve been hospitalized for a certain condition, you will have to provide written certification of your diagnosis and the course of your treatment. The prognosis will also have to be included in there.
• If you’ve had violent behavior in your medical history, you will have to bring information in which the doctor confirms its nature (medical or psychiatric nature, or drug-related problems). Self-harm or suicide attempts should also be included here.
• If you’ve had syphilis, you will need to provide a written certificate from your doctor in which it will be stated whether you’ve had the appropriate treatment or not. If you did not have syphilis and were still tested for it, you will have to provide some written explanation for that.
• If anyone in your immigrating family has a particular disability, you should provide a report of their current condition, as well as any requirements that they might need due to their condition.
• If you were tested positive for tuberculosis, you should bring a written certificate from your doctor in which it shows that you received medical treatment. You will also need to provide a report that explains exactly the course of treatment (length, medicine used, etc.).
• If you’ve ever had a chest x-ray that looks abnormal, you may also want to bring the films. In this case, you might need the actual films, not just a written report.

Once the documentation has been analyzed, USCIS will determine whether you are eligible for a green card under the current laws or not.

Ideally, you may also want to work with an immigration attorney when creating your adjustment of status checklist. This will ensure that you won’t be rejected due to lack of evidence. The lawyer will tell you exactly what documents to attach to your application.

Form I-693 Frequently Asked Questions

When it comes to Form I-693, you are bound to have a few questions. Here are some that tend to pop out fairly often.

Will My Health Condition Prevent Me from Getting a Green Card?

If you have a common health problem such as the flu or illnesses related to old age, your chances of getting a green card will not be affected. It will only be a problem if you have a chance of affecting other people as well, which is why you should check with a list of infectious diseases.

Therefore, if the disease is contained only to you, then you are not likely to have any problems. If you have diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart diseases, or any other condition that affects just you – and not the others – then you may still be admitted into the US.

What Illnesses and Diseases Would Cause Me to Fail My Exam?

Starting with 2018, if you are applying for a green card, the diseases that might prevent your chances of admission are:

• Gonorrhea
• Infectious-stage syphilis
• Hansen’s disease (infectious leprosy)
• Active tuberculosis

If you are applying from outside the US, other specific diseases might also prevent you from getting your pass. The rule is: if it can infect others, then you might be inadmissible.

What Vaccines Will I be Expected to Get to Complete My Exam?

In order to complete your exam, you need to provide proof of the following vaccines:

• Influenza
• Pneumococcal disease
• Varicella
• Meningococcal disease
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (HIB)
• Rotavirus
• Rubella
• Mumps
• Measles
• Polio
• Pertussis
• Tetanus
• Diphtheria

You may want to discuss with your civil surgeon or immigration attorney to determine exactly what vaccines you need. Not everyone needs to receive all those vaccines. Plus, once new vaccines for contagious diseases are created, they are also added to this list. You have to be careful about any updates so that there is no issue with your application.

Concluding Remarks

Resolving all those medical technicalities might feel like an inconvenience – but in a way, it is understandable. It is the US way of protecting its population. You just have to prove that you are not a danger – to you or to anyone else. Ideally, you might also want to use the help of an immigration attorney.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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