Question about flu shot for AOS

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

3 minutes ago, Tierpolizistin said:

The US has a "propaganda" on the flu shot...they push it on everyone, even local pharmacies like "Walgreens". I work in law enforcement, and the government tried to force me to get the flu shot, but I refused. I have never had a flu shot, nor have I ever had the flu. And every year those around me that do get the flu shot, they end up out sick from work for a week from the flu, and even though I am exposed to them, I never get it. Like I said, I am not anti-vaccine, but for myself (and my German husband feels the same) we just don't want unnecessary vaccines. But I was happy when my husband's blood titers came back and he was exempt from all vaccines. And the Immigration lawyer said since his exam for K1 was within the last few months, when we do the AoS medical exam, he just has to bring the bloodwork and x-rays with him and that will be fine. 

 

But  I think someone posted in here that I saw, that USCIS doesn't even pay attention to the specifics, they just look to see the immigration Dr info and that he signed and cleared the AoS applicant. 

ok gotcha.. yea I never had a flu shot... I've been lucky to not get sick too much in my life as well. It's good that the flu shot is there for those that benefit from it though. Ofc you can still get sick if you are infected by a different virus. The blood test is really good for those that don't have their vaccination backgrounds as well..

 

I'm wondering about the "aos medical" though, you mean you'll have to get another one? The K1 is valid for a year so you don't need to.

[Tierpolizistin 0]

6 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

ok gotcha.. yea I never had a flu shot... I've been lucky to not get sick too much in my life as well. It's good that the flu shot is there for those that benefit from it though. Ofc you can still get sick if you are infected by a different virus. The blood test is really good for those that don't have their vaccination backgrounds as well..

 

I'm wondering about the "aos medical" though, you mean you'll have to get another one? The K1 is valid for a year so you don't need to.

Well, for the AOS medical, my husband will have to get another medical exam for AOS, but since he had his K1 in October, he only has to bring his bloodwork papers and x-rays to the exam and the Dr will just sign off that he is fine. At least I believe that is how it works. 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 minutes ago, Tierpolizistin said:

Well, for the AOS medical, my husband will have to get another medical exam for AOS, but since he had his K1 in October, he only has to bring his bloodwork papers and x-rays to the exam and the Dr will just sign off that he is fine. At least I believe that is how it works. 

No.. the K1 medical is given to CBP at the border and they send it to USCIS. No other medical exam is needed.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Tierpolizistin 0]

20 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

No.. the K1 medical is given to CBP at the border and they send it to USCIS. No other medical exam is needed.

I just sent our Immigration lawyer an email regarding that because I would much rather we don't have to go through another medical exam if we don't have to, since we just did this in October in Germany! 

How long did it take you get your AOS adjusted?

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

7 minutes ago, Tierpolizistin said:

I just sent our Immigration lawyer an email regarding that because I would much rather we don't have to go through another medical exam if we don't have to, since we just did this in October in Germany! 

How long did it take you get your AOS adjusted?

I'm waiting atm
I filed in November about 2 weeks after getting married... I believe it can take anywhere from 3 months up to over a year it really depends.. but I'm hoping I'll get my EAD/AP fairly soon. 

 

and yes, the medical is not required for K1's that file within a year. It could however be a good idea to supply a copy of the DS-3025 that the overseas doc filled out, just so they know that you have complied and there is supposed to be a medical in your A-file for them to link up to your AOS case. I'm not surprised that the immigration lawyer wasn't aware of that. I hear many times they are unfamiliar with certain procedures which is why we opted to do everything ourselves. Why pay money if you're not even going to get the correct/full information right. 

 

edit: no judgement on your choice intended, just how we thought about it

Edited January 11, 2017 by Suss&Camm

[Tierpolizistin 0]

11 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

I'm waiting atm
I filed in November about 2 weeks after getting married... I believe it can take anywhere from 3 months up to over a year it really depends.. but I'm hoping I'll get my EAD/AP fairly soon. 

 

and yes, the medical is not required for K1's that file within a year. It could however be a good idea to supply a copy of the DS-3025 that the overseas doc filled out, just so they know that you have complied and there is supposed to be a medical in your A-file for them to link up to your AOS case. I'm not surprised that the immigration lawyer wasn't aware of that. I hear many times they are unfamiliar with certain procedures which is why we opted to do everything ourselves. Why pay money if you're not even going to get the correct/full information right. 

 

edit: no judgement on your choice intended, just how we thought about it

I would much rather NOT have to waste time on a 2nd medical exam if we don't have to of course! I just emailed our lawyer what what you said, and this was her reply:

"

Some K1 applicants complete the entire vaccination supplement as part of their K1 medical abroad. When that happens, they don’t need anything once they are here in the US, unless USCIS requires anything additional (such as the flu vaccine during the months of Oct-Mar).

It sounds like you have a good relationship with your doctor here, so I would consult with them on Stefan’s report and vaccination supplement."

 

He does have all his documentation from the K1 medical exam, including the blood test results and the x-rays though, if needed. And the only reason I hired a lawyer was, back in January last year I went to the local USCIS office in Phoenix to ask some questions about doing the K1  and Iw anted t make sure that if I did this on my own, I would not make any mistakes to hold the process up. My experience at my local USCIS was awful, they were rude, very short with me, and unhelpful, and even tried to discourage me from going through this process. (both my parents are immigrants...my dad came here from Sweden, my mum came here from Germany). So after I left the USCIS office that day, I knew I had to hire an immigration lawyer to help me. 

 

It sounds like you are not too far ahead of me in the process actually. My husband arrived here on his K1 on 14th November, and we got married 19th December (we did the elope thing because lack of time, we will do our actual ceremony with ring exchange and wedding dress etc in April this year and then later in Germany at Neuschwanstein Castle), and we are about to file for EAD and AOS now. The lawyer also said that not everyone is required by USCIS to have a AOS interview...but I am not sure what would make them not require someone to have an interview. If my husnamd doesn't have to do that interview there, I would prefer that of course! 

 

How long did you know your spouse for? I have known my husband since high school and we kept in touch and visited each other back and forth.

 

 

[Nowrya 59]

You should update your timeline. It'll help the statistical portion of this website.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

On 2017-01-11 at 3:01 PM, Tierpolizistin said:

I would much rather NOT have to waste time on a 2nd medical exam if we don't have to of course! I just emailed our lawyer what what you said, and this was her reply:

"

Some K1 applicants complete the entire vaccination supplement as part of their K1 medical abroad. When that happens, they don’t need anything once they are here in the US, unless USCIS requires anything additional (such as the flu vaccine during the months of Oct-Mar).

It sounds like you have a good relationship with your doctor here, so I would consult with them on Stefan’s report and vaccination supplement."

 

He does have all his documentation from the K1 medical exam, including the blood test results and the x-rays though, if needed. And the only reason I hired a lawyer was, back in January last year I went to the local USCIS office in Phoenix to ask some questions about doing the K1  and Iw anted t make sure that if I did this on my own, I would not make any mistakes to hold the process up. My experience at my local USCIS was awful, they were rude, very short with me, and unhelpful, and even tried to discourage me from going through this process. (both my parents are immigrants...my dad came here from Sweden, my mum came here from Germany). So after I left the USCIS office that day, I knew I had to hire an immigration lawyer to help me. 

 

It sounds like you are not too far ahead of me in the process actually. My husband arrived here on his K1 on 14th November, and we got married 19th December (we did the elope thing because lack of time, we will do our actual ceremony with ring exchange and wedding dress etc in April this year and then later in Germany at Neuschwanstein Castle), and we are about to file for EAD and AOS now. The lawyer also said that not everyone is required by USCIS to have a AOS interview...but I am not sure what would make them not require someone to have an interview. If my husnamd doesn't have to do that interview there, I would prefer that of course! 

 

How long did you know your spouse for? I have known my husband since high school and we kept in touch and visited each other back and forth.

 

 

Hi,
I'm sorry, I missed your reply. What your lawyer said is correct, however if you finish your vaccination requirements overseas that includes the flu shot if it's done between Oct-March... If you AOS during flu season but your medical was done outside of flu season, it is still the date of the overseas medical that counts for whether the flu shot was needed or not. If your DS-3025 is marked as complete and requested blanket waiver and you have the blood test results (this would be in lieu of the vaccination dates) you should be fine.

 

I'm curious, how did the local USCIS office discourage you from going through AOS? That sounds strange! 

 

Yes I'm not that far ahead  Married on Halloween, got here on October 19th.. We did a court wedding and a family dinner.. We will have a ceremony sometime in the future, but it's not really what we need to focus on atm either financially or timewise

 

It's true that some K1's are waived for interview at AOS stage... This is mainly cause it's so close in time to the embassy interview that it's a way for them to save time on straightforward cases with no red flags. Some are instead interviewed at the time of ROC (10 year GC) but some are waived also then. According to the USCIS Policy guidelines for adjudicators (as of Feb 2016), interviews are generally  waived according to:

 

 

"A. Interview Waiver Criteria

1. Waiver Criteria

USCIS has the ability to waive an interview. [2] Adjustment of status interviews are generally waived for applicants in the following classifications:

•Applicants clearly ineligible;

•Unmarried children of U.S. citizens, if not filed as part of a family pack;

•Parents of U.S. citizens;

•Fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens who married within 90 days, and their children;

•Asylee and refugee cases in which the applicant has previously been interviewed by an asylum or refugee officer; [3] and

•Unmarried children (under age 14) of lawful permanent residents."

 

It goes on to say:

 

"Cases in the general interview waiver categories [5] may be relocated to a field office for interview. Reasons for relocation may include:

•Need to confirm the identity of the applicant;

•Need to validate legal status;

•The applicant entered the United States without inspection or there are other unresolved issues regarding the foreign national’s manner of entry;

•There are known criminal inadmissibility or national security concerns that cannot be resolved at a service center;

•There are fraud concerns and the service center recommends an interview;

•The applicant’s fingerprints have been rejected twice;

•The applicant has a Class A medical condition that the service center cannot resolve through an RFE;

•The applicant answered “Yes” to any eligibility question on the adjustment application and the service center cannot determine eligibility through an RFE; or

•The service center has not been able to obtain an applicant’s A-file, T-file, or Receipt file (when the applicant has multiple files).

Cases claiming eligibility under INA 245(i) provisions should always be referred to a field office for interview because of the complexity of the provisions and the need to obtain the applicant’s testimony."

 

To answer your final question I've known my husband for a bit over 2 years. At the time of filing i-129f it was about 1.5 years and he had visited me for 3 months... he came over for another 2 months around the time of the interview. It was good "practice" for living together 

 

[Tierpolizistin 0]

On 1/18/2017 at 7:49 AM, Suss&Camm said:

Hi,
I'm sorry, I missed your reply. What your lawyer said is correct, however if you finish your vaccination requirements overseas that includes the flu shot if it's done between Oct-March... If you AOS during flu season but your medical was done outside of flu season, it is still the date of the overseas medical that counts for whether the flu shot was needed or not. If your DS-3025 is marked as complete and requested blanket waiver and you have the blood test results (this would be in lieu of the vaccination dates) you should be fine.

 

I'm curious, how did the local USCIS office discourage you from going through AOS? That sounds strange! 

 

Yes I'm not that far ahead  Married on Halloween, got here on October 19th.. We did a court wedding and a family dinner.. We will have a ceremony sometime in the future, but it's not really what we need to focus on atm either financially or timewise

 

It's true that some K1's are waived for interview at AOS stage... This is mainly cause it's so close in time to the embassy interview that it's a way for them to save time on straightforward cases with no red flags. Some are instead interviewed at the time of ROC (10 year GC) but some are waived also then. According to the USCIS Policy guidelines for adjudicators (as of Feb 2016), interviews are generally  waived according to:

 

 

"A. Interview Waiver Criteria

 

1. Waiver Criteria

 

USCIS has the ability to waive an interview. [2] Adjustment of status interviews are generally waived for applicants in the following classifications:

 

•Applicants clearly ineligible;

 

•Unmarried children of U.S. citizens, if not filed as part of a family pack;

 

•Parents of U.S. citizens;

 

•Fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens who married within 90 days, and their children;

 

•Asylee and refugee cases in which the applicant has previously been interviewed by an asylum or refugee officer; [3] and

 

•Unmarried children (under age 14) of lawful permanent residents."

 

It goes on to say:

 

"Cases in the general interview waiver categories [5] may be relocated to a field office for interview. Reasons for relocation may include:

 

•Need to confirm the identity of the applicant;

 

•Need to validate legal status;

 

•The applicant entered the United States without inspection or there are other unresolved issues regarding the foreign national’s manner of entry;

 

•There are known criminal inadmissibility or national security concerns that cannot be resolved at a service center;

 

•There are fraud concerns and the service center recommends an interview;

 

•The applicant’s fingerprints have been rejected twice;

 

•The applicant has a Class A medical condition that the service center cannot resolve through an RFE;

 

•The applicant answered “Yes” to any eligibility question on the adjustment application and the service center cannot determine eligibility through an RFE; or

 

•The service center has not been able to obtain an applicant’s A-file, T-file, or Receipt file (when the applicant has multiple files).

 

Cases claiming eligibility under INA 245(i) provisions should always be referred to a field office for interview because of the complexity of the provisions and the need to obtain the applicant’s testimony."

 

To answer your final question I've known my husband for a bit over 2 years. At the time of filing i-129f it was about 1.5 years and he had visited me for 3 months... he came over for another 2 months around the time of the interview. It was good "practice" for living together 

 

Well, based on those criteria, I would expect the USCIS wouldn't want to be bothered with an interview. Our case is quite straightforward "boring". I have known him since High School and we have evidence of such. And there is no age discrepancy (we are both near the same age), both speak each other languages, etc. Our K1 petition got pushed through extremely fast, and the only question at the interview was "ummmmm...how did you guys meet?" because apparently me being there when I wasn't required to, seemed to throw off their game and surprise them. But I was not going to let him go through that process alone, we are in this together. 

 

And when I had gone to the USCIS office here in Phoenix, I went to try to get some questions answered before we filed the I-129F because it was a bit confusing for me and I wanted to make sure I did it right, and didn't cause any delays if I did it by myself. The office there was very rude and did not answer anything I asked, and even tried to discourage me from going through this K1 process! I understand they may be disgruntled because they are likely quite busy with illegal Mexican immigration issues here in Arizona..but they don't need to categorize everyone like that and mistreat them. So they are the reason I hired an Immigration lawyer. 

 

But it's great to find a forum of others who can relate to all of this! It is extremely helpful!  

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

On 12/28/2016 at 8:39 PM, grumpybrit said:

There are no seasonal requirements, the list is the same all year round and can be found here. No seasonal flu shot appears on the list, only hib (which is not the same as a "flu shot").

The flu shot is most certainly seasonal, and even states so on the link you provided. It is last on the list, " Seasonal influenza"

 

The flu season is for immigration is Oct - Mar. If you have your exam during flu season, then it is required. If you had your K-1 medical before flu season, then you should not be required to get it just because you file for AOS during flu season. The link already posted in this thread for the pinned topic in the AOS forum states this information.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/news/questions-and-answers/vaccination-requirements

Q. When does the flu season start for purposes of the seasonal flu vaccine requirement? Since the seasonal flu vaccine is required, do I have to get the seasonal flu vaccine if it is not the flu season? 
A.  For purposes of the immigration medical examination, the flu season starts on October 1 and ends on March 31 each year. If your immigration medical examination is during this period, you are required to have the seasonal flu vaccine. If you have an immigration medical examination completed between April 1 and September 30, when it is not the flu season for immigration purposes, you are not required to document that you have received the seasonal flu vaccine.

 

 

USCIS policies for K-1 adjustment applicants >

 

~ Moved from K-1 Process to AOS from Family Based Visas - topic is AOS ~

[Matiola 8]

thank you for useful information!!!

 

 

Edited December 12, 2017 by Matiola

[kwoodruff 4]

On 12/29/2016 at 1:13 AM, Suss&Camm said:

The date that counts is when you had your overseas medical done... if that was in flu season (Oct-March) then flu shot is required.. if not then it is not, even if you file AOS during flu season

This is my husband's current situation when applying for AOS via K1 visa. He had his medical exam in March in London and did not get the flu shot. Now, since it is not "flu season," there are no flu vaccines available. Do you think he will get an RFE for this? 

 

He has an appointment on Wednesday to have a civil surgeon transcribe his vaccinations and administer one other missing shot - but I already called and asked and he said they don't have any and there won't be any at any other doctor's offices either. Trying to figure this out before dropping money on the 693 appointment.

[TBoneTX 45,364]

Your answer is readily available in the pinned thread atop the forum.  

Old thread is now closed to further comment.