medical exam for j-1 adjusting

[rubyred 0]

i'm confused about when i'm supposed to get the medical exam done: i thought it was any time BEFORE the interview, but now i'm not sure - should i have it done to send in WITH my AOS package?

i'm a J-1 visa holder, married to a USC.

Edited April 11, 2009 by rubyred

[Shelly&Jay 0]

Unfortunately it needs to be sent with your AOS package. We had an immigration lawyer look at our package and he told us to do it and send it with the AOS. Our package would have been sent soon, but we had to get it done at the last minute. It needs to be done by a civil surgeon.

Shelly

[rubyred 0]

i have spent SO much time reading and reading and reading VJ, yet now that we're down to wire i'm finding these huge glaring holes in my knowledge of this process - big BIG things like the $355 fee and now the medical... i feel like a total idiot, but there's so much to research and we spent so much time trying to find out about how filing for AOS would affect the status of my J-1 visa and my ability to work... so much else seems to have been swallowed up by that. guess we won't be sending our package tomorrow.

[Shelly&Jay 0]

Bummer, your medical exam should only take about a week to get the results back. It's so scary to be filing. You want to make sure you don't miss anything. But it's easy to get confused with everything you read.

Shelly

[rubyred 0]

how much did your medical cost? the thing i'm concerned about is the vaccines: not sure how i'll get a record of those from my new zealand doctor. i've asked my mum to contact our family doctor, but i'm worried i'll have to be tested for all the vaccines and it will just add to the cost.

[Shelly&Jay 0]

I think it cost about $500 but that depends on how expensive your office visit is. I didn't go with my husband. We couldn't get his vaccine records from England so they gave him new vaccinations which I think was 3 shots. And I think they took 3 viles of blood to be tested and there was the TB test which you have to go back to have checked in 48 hours.

I'm not sure if the test for the vaccines. I think they will just give you them which does cost more but it is quicker than waiting to get your records.

And the shots did make my hubby feel sick for about 2 days. No fun, but it's worth it so we can stay here together.

Good luck,

Shelly

[Septembergold 0]

my medical exam cost us $300 alltogether, i had some vaccines missing in my medical record so i had to get a tetanus shot and a Hepatitis B vaccine. and it took 3 days.

do it prior to sending your AOS. and if possible, try to get transcripts of your medical records from home. it will save you some money.

[rubyred 0]

so just a quick review of my medical exam, may be of use to someone:

# Dr. Martha Mejia

1660 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos, CA 94070

(650) 596-9085

we booked the exam about 4 days in advance. it's a really nice, clean office, with just the one doctor plus her nurses etc. didn't have to wait long and they already had the I-163 forms (they seemed very familiar with the whole process, which i had been worried about - i'd printed off something like 40 pages of technical instructions for civil surgeons from the CDC website). the exam part was really brief: a nurse measure my weight and blood pressure, pressed on my stomach, asked me a couple of basic questions. then the dr came in, checked my heart/lungs/ears/mouth, asked me a few basic questions.

i had a fax of my vaccine records from my dr (GOD that was the worst part - my home-country doctor was USELESS and it took me insisting that vaccines were missing to get them to look for others... and sure enough, my records were in 3 separate places in their system!!), and she didn't question their authenticity at all. i only needed 2 shots (tetanus and MMR). if you're freaking about all the vaccines on the list, you'll find with a little research that most of them are age-specific (mostly for the elderly or little kids). they also did a TB skin test.

i came back 3 days later to get the shots and blood results and also get the TB skin test checked. all clear!!

medical exam: $150

pregnancy test (required because MMR shot can't be given to a pregnant woman): $15

tetanus and MMR shots: $150

so nowhere near as expensive as we anticipated.