“But What About My Medical Exam?” Quick tips for how to handle Adjustment of Status-related medical exams

June 30, 2022

The Form I-693 medical exam has long been a standard building block of the Adjustment of Status application for applicants already present in the U.S. As I-485 processing times and priority dates waiting times have steadily increased, the debate about when to provide the completed medical exam has varied drastically. As of June 2022, the USCIS has released some guidance for applicants already present in the U.S.:

• A Form I-693 is now valid for 2 years, rather than 6 months. This is good news, and typically means that is a good idea to prepare a medical exam once your priority date is current. 
• When filing an Adjustment of Status application for the first time, you should include a valid Form I-693.
• If you have already filed an Adjustment of Status application, do not send an unsolicited Form I-693 to the USCIS. This will likely result in sending a medical exam that will not get matched to the Form I-485 application, requiring that you provide the medical exam again later on when it is requested by the USCIS.
• If you already filed an Adjustment of Status application and did not include a valid Form I-693, your underlying petition is approved, and your priority date is current, you should prepare a valid Form I-693 to have on-hand in the event that it is requested. This will allow for the fastest possible processing and issuance of your green card.

This blog is made available by The Immigration Group, PC for educational purposes only in order to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice. For legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.