USCIS-Compliant Immigration Physical Exam

Applicants for adjustment of status must have the forms I-693 and its supplemental filled out by a civil surgeon. We make every attempt to fill your forms out right so your immigration process goes smoothly. Our track record is very good, and many immigration attorneys refer their clients to us for the immigration physicals.

Here is what will happen when you come in for immigration physical:

First you will fill out some brief forms.

Then we will invite you into an exam room, where we will ask you some questions about your health and immunization status and do a physical exam.

Based on the results of the exam and your health history we will suggest certain procedures, including blood and urine tests, skin test, chest X-ray and immunizations.

Read the following to be able to better understand the process and possibly save money and aggravation.

Most health plans do not cover these services. You need to pay us directly and we can provide you with the formal insurance forms so you can bill them yourself. Some of our clients do get reimbursed, but we can't guarantee it.

If you have insurance and it may pay for some of the tests and immunizations you need, you can have them done at your primary care clinic. Then you can ask your doctor to give you copies of your records pertaining to these procedures and we will use them to prepare your immigration form.

Immunizations

You are required to be immunized completely according to the standard schedule. If you have any immunization records, whether American or from your home country, please bring them in. It is best to have them translated, but we can usually figure out even the foreign records and apply all your immunizations towards your INS requirements. Once we know which extra immunizations you need we can give them to you or you can have them done at your primary care doctor’s office.

Children under the age of 19 need the most shots, so please make sure you get all the available records. We don’t want to give them more shots than they really need.

If you would like to limit the number of immunizations you get, we can do a blood test to test your immunity to certain childhood illnesses (so called titer). If you test positive for the disease in question, you do not need a shot. The titers for most diseases are more expensive than the shots, so most people chose to just do the shots.

Lab tests

The main blood tests we do are those for HIV and syphilis. This is required for all applicants age 15 and over. If you choose to do titers for childhood illnesses, they are added to the same test and you don’t need an extra needle stick. Sometimes we need to add other tests (blood or urine) based on the exam findings.

Skin test for Tuberculosis (PPD or Mantoux). This is required for everybody age 2 and up.

If you have ever had a positive skin test, please let us know. It is not bad and will not affect your immigration process. If you have ever had a positive test, we should not repeat it, because it will be positive again and we will not gain any useful information. A positive test means you have had some exposure to TB, either actual disease or a vaccine. Most people have had a vaccination for TB (BCG) in their early childhood, and it often renders them somewhat positive for the rest of their life.

A positive test means that the area on your forearm that was injected with the “antigen” swells up a bit. Then the doctor would tell you the test is positive and send you for a chest X-ray. So, if you’ve ever had a skin test which was followed by a chest X-ray, the test was probably positive. It would be helpful for us to see the record of the test and the X-ray your doctor did.

In cases when the test was definitely positive in the past we go straight to chest X-ray, so you avoid an unnecessary needle stick with the following discomfort from the swelling on your forearm.

Cost of an Immigration Physical Exam

The time for the visit is $125. After that you pay only for what you need. Most patients don't need a chest x-ray, for example. Be prepared to need tests and vaccines that cost $0-$195.