Anybody get ripped from a Civil Surgeon?

[Sayha or bust. 71]

My journey in finding a CS has been nothing but trouble, none of the ones I talked will follow any procedure and give unneeded test and want to charge ridiculous prices(250 to 1300 dollars}. I finally found one in Napperville, Illinois about 2 hours from my Iowa residence. He did it by the book and charged me $195 , it would of been 150 but charged me 45 dollars for a flu shot(still not sure if she needed it. At that point I was relieved that it was done and didn't mind paying it . I'm driving Monday to Joliet , Illinois for our 2 children to see a Cs for a big charge of 25 dollars a piece.

Please post if you had a familiar experience.. We should complain to the Uscis to stop these unfair practices.

Edited March 23, 2011 by Sayha or bust.

[Inky 1,111]

USCIS has nothing to do with civil surgeons and can do NOTHING about it. I believe you have been told this before in your other posts about this issue.

ALso I think you posted in the wrong section, AOS from visitor status, where it should be in AOS from family based visa.

[Sayha or bust. 71]

USCIS has nothing to do with civil surgeons and can do NOTHING about it. I believe you have been told this before in your other posts about this issue.

ALso I think you posted in the wrong section, AOS from visitor status, where it should be in AOS from family based visa.

Ok fair enough, are you sure theres no agency that police this nonsense? I want to hear other peoples story , Thank you....

Edited March 24, 2011 by Sayha or bust.

[Little_My 464]

Civil Surgeons are private physicians who can price themselves however they wish - it's not the government's, USCIS', or anyone elses business what rates a private doctor charges. Heck, you can find doctors all around US who charge thousands of dollars for every visit - just because they can, and just because they can also always find people who can afford that, and are willing to pay that.

Sorry. I can understand your frustration, but I think you are spending your energy on this in vain.. there is no one you can complain to. It is what it is.

My doctors appt was $150 with everything in NYC (didn't need vaccinations though). All you can do is call several civil surgeons and try to get price quotes, and find the cheapest one.

[xxtinaxx 14]

If you can find a cheaper civil surgeon somewhere else, just go there. Otherwise, you have to accept the rip off like my situation. I had to pay so much money for my greedy civil surgeon, like almost $600 including chest xray but I went to another city for FREE vaccines. Otherwise, I would have paid more, like another $150 . To be honest, I still hate him for making me go thru all the bullshit exams that I wasn't supposed to do. If I had more money, I would sue him

Edited March 24, 2011 by xxtinaxx

[Sayha or bust. 71]

Civil Surgeons are private physicians who can price themselves however they wish - it's not the government's, USCIS', or anyone elses business what rates a private doctor charges. Heck, you can find doctors all around US who charge thousands of dollars for every visit - just because they can, and just because they can also always find people who can afford that, and are willing to pay that.

Sorry. I can understand your frustration, but I think you are spending your energy on this in vain.. there is no one you can complain to. It is what it is.

My doctors appt was $150 with everything in NYC (didn't need vaccinations though). All you can do is call several civil surgeons and try to get price quotes, and find the cheapest one.

Isn't a Civil Surgeon , a special doctor with some certification of sorts? They don't have to follow the instruction of the I-693? If I don't follow the standards and prints at work, guess what, the federal aviation and government penalizes my company and I could lose my job in the process. It's hard to believe there is no agency that overseas these unfair practices. It's not the cost I'm complaining about, it's mostly the disregard of instructions that I can clearly read that they don't follow.

Thanks for the post. I found 2 honest CS out of about a dozen I called.

[Sayha or bust. 71]

If you can find a cheaper civil surgeon somewhere else, just go there. Otherwise, you have to accept the rip off like my situation. I had to pay so much money for my greedy civil surgeon, like almost $600 including chest xray but I went to another city for FREE vaccines. Otherwise, I would have paid more, like another $150 . To be honest, I still hate him for making me go thru all the bullshit exams that I wasn't supposed to do. If I had more money, I would sue him

I guess what drove me posting tonight was the CS's dumb nurse that asked me how the doctor should fill this out.

[Little_My 464]

Civil Surgeons are regular doctors who have been designated by USCIS to conduct medical checks for immigration purposes. I have no idea what the process of becoming a designated civil surgeon is - and I'm sure there are some general guidelines given to them - but, in the end, what they charge for their services is their business. They are not accountable to the USCIS in any other sense except to provide accurate, up-to-date information on the petitioner based on the information asked on the form. That is their only responsibility as far as USCIS is concerned.

Sure you can try call USCIS and make a complaint - all I am saying is, I doubt they will care. Why would they? USCIS does not pay those medical bills, we do.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

The "dumb nurse" isn't a CS. Civil Surgeons are there to protect the US populace from disease, not to give you free healthcare. CS exams are not covered by insurance, so they have to cover their costs. Complain to the insurance companies - it's more their interference than the doctor's.

If a CS determines you needs vaccines and tests, it's because you do.

I can't believe how many people on this forum think that having TB is normal and complain that they have to take medicine. Yikes - don't want that to happen here. We have basically eradicated certain diseases and want it to stay that way.

[icaruslol 1]

I paid 325 for mine just because it was very close to my house. all he did was give me 5 shots and drew blood, and checked the tuberculosis thing a couple days later. no xrays nothing.

[Pinkranger 0]

That almost happened to me too. If I did not ask for a referral from my lawyer, a only CS within my area would have charged me $300 for the consultation, tuberculin and blood work. Since I only had 1 vaccine required for my age, I had to get the other 2 and he charges $50 more per vaccine than the ones administered by the local health center.

Compared to what could have been more than $500, I paid $180 for the CS in Chicago Chinatown plus $90 for the two vaccines. Plus I got to go around the city too twice which I enjoyed. If one is more concerned on the convenience however, paying a lot more would not really matter (and that is what the CS thinks too). You just have to make a choice.

[DaveE 178]

If one doesn't like what they charge, go to another one. When my wife and stepdaughter were adjusting status, they needed the vaccination form I693?. There was one civil surgeon within 150 miles of my home. I could use him or drive 300 miles round trip to the next one. The one farther away was booked up for two weeks, the one in my home town did walk ins. I used the local one but knew going in it was $200 per person to get the vacination sheet transcribed.

I did mention the price during the AOS interview. The interviewer told me that they had no input as to the price charged as they are private physicians who went through the process to be designated as US Civil Surgeons.

I guess it is like anything else in life, shop around and get the best price or walk in to the closest place and pay full retail.

[nane1104 146]

When I applied for AOS, I didn't need a full medical as the one done in Germany for the K-1 was still valid. I just needed the info transfered to a different form, forgot which one it was.

Anyway, the nearest CS wanted to charge close to $500 eventhough I didn't even needed to be examined.

I enede up finding a CS about 3 hours from us (in Dallas) who charged $20, I was in and out in about 2 hours and they were supernice.

I even heard there are CS who do it by mail for $10. You can get your vaccines anywhere else, nobody forces you to pay the CS's over the top prices.