Vaccination, Civil Surgeons, i-693, and the tedium...

[tolitzpogi 37]

First of all, let me start by saying that, if you missed a vaccination due to it not being available at the time of your medical, and you hear that it became available prior to you leaving for the U.S., please please PLEASE get it before you leave! It'll save you a ton of headaches that I will be explaining below...

My then fiancee took her required medical at SLEC in the Philippines in June of 2014, and they had to make her take a sputum test because of scarring they saw in her chest x-ray. So that's a two-month delay while we wait for the sputum culture and results, which thankfully turned out negative. She got her vaccinations except for the TDAP (tetanus) which was not currently available according to SLEC. The people there said she can just get the vaccine in the U.S. after she arrives and it should complete her medical.

So my fiancee gets here in November 2014 and we get married in January 2015. A week later a couple of people from the Dept of Public Health in Los Angeles knocked on the door and spoke with my wife; they said they needed to do a follow-up checkup on her since she did sputum culture in the Philippines, and it was SOP for them to do their own testing for TB as well for everyone who came in with a previous sputum test. She goes to the clinic, gets another X-ray and another sputum culture, and had her take her TDAP vaccine there while she's already there.

So all I needed to do was visit a Civil Surgeon to transcribe the DS-3025 with the TDAP vaccination paper attached right? Well. here's where the trouble starts.

* * * * *

After reading numerous posts on the i-693 and CS on VJ, I knew I was gonna have to pay to have it transcribed. So I visited the USCIS CS Locator and found one near our area and the CS happened to be Filipino, so I was thinking it would be easier for my wife to have it done. But when she got there, the staff working for the CS told her they required her to have ANOTHER TB test - just a skin test, granted - and a Syphillis test as well. They charged her $150 for everything including the tests and the transcription, and she brought in her DS-3025, the TDAP vaccination record, and a copy of the i-693 prefilled with her information. She waits almost 3 hours for all the tests to be done, and was told to return two days later for the skin test results and the transcribed document.

My wife comes back after two days and waited another two hours. During that time one of the doctors in the clinic passed by and asked her what she was in for, and she told them she was waiting for someone to see her skin test. The doctor looked at the area where the skin test was done ans said "oh, there's a red lump, that's positive for TB." So naturally my wife was all freaked out and traumatized and called me from the clinic. I told her that she needed to wait for the actual CS or the nurses she talked to for the results, not just some random, tactless doctor. So she waited some more and the nurses told her it was negative for TB.

But then they tell her she will need a chest x-ray because the i-693 required it! She told them she already had her x-ray in the Philippines and it was clear, but they said they needed one in the U.S. so they can complete the transcription, and assured her that more than six months have already passed since her last x-ray in the Philippines anyway so she would be okay to have another one.

That's when she had to tell them about the visit from the Public Health Dept as well as the x-ray and sputum test she did a month ago. They asked her why the Public Health Dept had to do another x-ray and sputum if she was clear of TB, and my wife got nervous and told them she didn't know. They then told her she will need to wait for her sputum results from the Public Health Dept before they can complete the transcription.

So my wife calls me all depressed and said she would need to wait two more months for the sputum culture to show the results. So I called the staff at the clinic and told them that the Public Health Dept told us that it is SOP for them to do their own TB exam for those who entered the country after a sputum culture. After much argument, they eventually understood that she didn't need another chest x-ray, but they needed the x-ray results from the Public Health clinic showing she had negative results. I told them the x-ray results should have already been sent the USCIS in the packet my wife brought at POE, but they insisted that they needed x-ray results.

So I had my wife go back to the clinic where she had her sputum test done and request certification from the doctor that her x-ray results were clear - and they were. After waiting another hour she received the required document, and went back to the CS office where she waited another hour to be seen. The CS finally showed his face and did a general exam on her. After waiting another hour she finally received her sealed i-693 transcription and a photocopy of it.

* * * * *

So, all this because she missed one vaccine from SLEC?

So I reiterate: if you missed a vaccination due to it not being available at the time of your medical, and you hear that it became available prior to you leaving for the U.S., please please PLEASE get it before you leave!

Good luck...

Edited February 20, 2015 by tolitzpogi

[KayDeeCee 4,896]

Sorry to hear of all the troubles and expenses you had to deal with. This is a known issue though. Civil surgeons can charge what they want. Many of them insist you need the full medical again, even if you entered with a K-1. Some just need to be told it is a K-1 and/or shown the instructions for a K-1. Others do not care still and will insist on the medical and unnecessary tests. This is why there is a long(for years now) running thread about civil surgeons that will not try and rip you off and simply do the vaccination transcription. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/231026-civil-surgeons-who-dont-rip-you-off/page-13