VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS

[JVF 0]

I found a list of Vaccination Requirements on http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1331.html

I am a little confused. My fiancee does not have Hepatitis B shots. As I understand Hepatitis B done in 3 stages within 7 months period. We don't have that much time.

[mendeleev 68]

First of all, vacations do not need to be complete until you fiance applies for AOS after you get married. My wife got both a K1 and a K3 and she does not have Hepatitus B vaccinations.

Second, when you wife gets her medical exam prior to the K1 interview, the examining physician should/will fill out a DS-2053 "Vaccination Documentatino Worksheet" that records the vaccines your fiance has received in Ukraine. Be sure that your fiance gets a copy of this form. It may save you headaches or hassles later on. (NB -- DS-2053 was the form used in 2007, when my wife went through for her K3. It was also in use in 2005 when she got her K1 but we didn't get a copy because we weren't so savvy then. It didn't: she did AOS from her K3. I am not 100% sure that this is precisely the form that the physician will fill out: you should verify and brief your fiance.)

Next, not all vaccines are considered age appropriate. Find out which ones are age considered by the Department of State (DOS) to be age appropriate for your fiance. These things change. You know how old your fiance is; we don't. Some clinics will vaccinate age inappropriately and charge you for it. For instance, my wife got vaccinated for MMR when she applied for her K3, in spite of the fact that she was 51 at the time and, according to DOS, a MMR vaccine is not appropriate for women over 50. The clinic alleged this was required. They were wrong. Was this an honest error or did they simply want another 1000 rubles? I have my suspicions but cannot prove anything. I do know that they required an 80-year-old CR5 applicant to get a MMR vaccine on the same day. (Who thinks an 80-year-old widow is at risk for getting pregnant??) In my fiance's case, this resulted not only in unnecessary, inappropriate out-of-pocket expense but also in a full-blown reaction. My wife contracted, as far as her physicians in Novosibirsk could tell, full-blown rubella. It was frightening and she was put into isolation at home until the rash resolved. And it was unnecessary. So it is really up to you to find out what is deemed age-appropriate. And it is up to you to make sure your fiance knows and to encourage her to have the spine to refuse alleged requirements that are not in fact requirements at all.

As you probably know, Hepatitis B vaccination requires three injections over a period of time. I don't know if DOS will deem it age appropriate for your fiance or not. But if it is, your fiance can go through this ordeal once she is here. If required, and if you choose, your fiance could start before she comes to the states, but this isn't really necessary.

Hope this helps.

Edited May 27, 2010 by novotul

[payxibka 10,045]

I found a list of Vaccination Requirements on http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1331.html

I am a little confused. My fiancee does not have Hepatitis B shots. As I understand Hepatitis B done in 3 stages within 7 months period. We don't have that much time.

If there was a vaccination requirement for a K-1 (which there is not), any vaccination that is series of shots only need be started and does not need to be complete for a visa to be issued

Edited May 27, 2010 by payxibka

[mendeleev 68]

First of all, vacations do not need to be complete until you fiance applies for AOS after you get married.

Sorry, that was dumb: not "vacations" but "vaccinations": vaccinations do not need to be complete until your fiance applies for AOS here in the States. Hopefully, vacations will not be finished for a long, long time.

[JVF 0]

Thanks everyone. This is very helpful information. I knew that K1 does not require vaccinations, but good idea to have them prior arrival to US. Te confusing part was once she comes to US, we will not be able to adjust her status until she has all the shots. Also, I heard she needs to do her blood test done first for a doctor to determine if needs Hepatitis shots at all.

P.S. My fiancee is 25 years old.

[payxibka 10,045]

Thanks everyone. This is very helpful information. I knew that K1 does not require vaccinations, but good idea to have them prior arrival to US. Te confusing part was once she comes to US, we will not be able to adjust her status until she has all the shots. Also, I heard she needs to do her blood test done first for a doctor to determine if needs Hepatitis shots at all.

P.S. My fiancee is 25 years old.

Again, any vaccination that is a series of shots only need be started. You do not need to wait for a series to be complete before submitting AOS

[JVF 0]

Again, any vaccination that is a series of shots only need be started. You do not need to wait for a series to be complete before submitting AOS

understood. Thank you.

[frankd2222 0]

understood. Thank you.

I don't advocate this, but if you are pressed for time you can also just bribe a local doctor to falsify the documents as a last resort. Make sure that the intervals match up with what is required.

[JVF 0]

I don't advocate this, but if you are pressed for time you can also just bribe a local doctor to falsify the documents as a last resort. Make sure that the intervals match up with what is required.

hehehehehe...the beauty of old Soviet Union system.

I think we are ok at this point. My fiancee found all the documents with the shots and went to the local medical center where they copied everything on the separate paper and stamped it. I think that should be good enough.

[visaveteran 1]

I don't advocate this, but if you are pressed for time you can also just bribe a local doctor to falsify the documents as a last resort. Make sure that the intervals match up with what is required.

You don't advocate it...but you suggest it? Are you a speech writer for a politician? There are some nasty diseases in Russia including TB. To bypass the system puts people at risk.

[slim 1,525]

including TB. To bypass the system puts people at risk.

How do you bypass the chest X-Ray?

I guess you could buy someone else's or maybe have the doc fabricate one for you, but either way, to do so doesn't necessarily put people at risk. TB, while a serious infection, isn't the most serious risk immigrants could bring into the U.S.

[visaveteran 1]

How do you bypass the chest X-Ray?

I guess you could buy someone else's or maybe have the doc fabricate one for you, but either way, to do so doesn't necessarily put people at risk. TB, while a serious infection, isn't the most serious risk immigrants could bring into the U.S.

TB carriers don't necessarily have lung damage. A TB "####### test" is required for certainty. I mention TB because my US travel doctor has warned me several times to get checked for TB after visiting Russia.

[mendeleev 68]

TB carriers don't necessarily have lung damage. A TB "####### test" is required for certainty. I mention TB because my US travel doctor has warned me several times to get checked for TB after visiting Russia.

VV, a ####### test only gives useful information if the person has never had a TB vaccination. Before you say, "Wait a minute, there is no TB vaccination" learn a little more. In much of the world, there is a pretty ineffective TB vaccination that has been used for decades. To my knowledge, it was never used in the USA. All all children in the USSR got this vaccination and may in Russia still do. A TB "####### test" is useless in this instance because the test will come back positive because there will be TB antibodies.

That, VV, is why the US Embassy in Moscow requires a chest X-ray to rule out TB.

Of course you should get checked for TB after traveling to Russia or indeed to many parts of the world, like certain parts of Texas. The vaccine used in Russia is ineffective. There's lots of TB in Russia (just like there is in certain parts of the USA). But, lucky you, you can get a ####### test. (I've always wondered: is it good or bad to pass a ####### test? But that would be a different thread, not this one.) Your fiance needs a chest X-ray.

[visaveteran 1]

My wife got her chest X-Ray, thank you. I don't want to live or die on the TB issue. My point was to argue that people who use bribery or false medical documents to enter the US put people's health in danger. Just like illegals from Mexico bringing undiagnosed diseases into the US.

If a chest x-ray shows no TB but the person is a carrier, and that person got a useless Russian vaccination for TB which shows a supposedly false positive result, then I guess we're all screwed because we can be exposed to deadly TB.

Edited May 31, 2010 by visaveteran

[slim 1,525]

I think the medical exam is a great idea and every immigrant should get one. However, I believe they should be examined not from a "stopping infectious disease from entering the U.S." standpoint, but a "so they don't become a public charge" standpoint if they'd happen to come here and rack up huge medical bills.

The reason I say this is because 99% of immigrants who are prospective spouses had sexual contact with a USC prior to their arrival and the USC returned to the States without a medical exam. Sure, there are kids and old folks who wouldn't have had sexual contact with the USC, but, they've probably lived in close proximity to the prospective spouse in the mean time while waiting for the visa process.

If we were truly worried about stopping infectious diseases from entering the U.S., everyone would get a medical exam at POE. Everyone. Not just immigrants, not just visitors... EVERYONE!

To say it's unsafe for immigrants to bribe a doctor isn't false. But, then again, to say it adds increased risk to the U.S. public isn't true either, especially when there's already someone here who's had sexual contact with that immigrant and plenty of time to spread whatever it is that could be spread.