Suspect X-Ray, TB and yellow envelope

[Ohmohm 0]

I am sponsoring my mother for a green card. During medical exam in her native country they called X-ray suspicious and sent her for additional tests. All tests turned negative, obviously (since she had never had any such things), but on the visa she received they put a note - Class B1(TB) Req. ATTN of a USPHS at POE, and gave her a yellow envelope, not to be opened.

 

She presented all this at POE, they stamped her passport and let her in, eventually, after some additional processing at immigration. The trouble is - they gave her back this envelope, sealed, but didn't referred her for any additional testing here in the US - at least, they didn't gave her any such notes! Also, they, somehow, communicated to her that she'd receive GC in mail. She speaks no English, and was wheeled through all this in a wheelchair, without understanding much of what was going on. She _thinks_ they might have opened and re-sealed the envelope, but is not sure.

 

It's now 2 months since the initial entry, and we haven't received GC yet. She needs to travel real soon. Can please somebody advise us?

[DELETEME1234 208]

Does she have a I551stamp in her passport? If so, that is her GC until she receives the physical one. 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

9 minutes ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Does she have a I551stamp in her passport? If so, that is her GC until she receives the physical one. 

To be clear, she has one automatically if she entered on an immigrant visa with the annotation: “UPON ENDORSEMENT SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEAR”

https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/temporary-i-551-stamps-and-mrivs

 

I’m more concerned about the sealed yellow envelope. OP,  I am not clear if this is the one that CBP was supposed to take at entry, or if it is something specifically related to the medical issue. What exactly is printed on the envelope?
 

A number of people are reporting currently waiting around 3 months for the plastic green cards by the way, so this is not unusual. I assume the $220 immigrant fee has been paid.

Edited March 16, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[Ohmohm 0]

7 minutes ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Does she have a I551stamp in her passport? If so, that is her GC until she receives the physical one. 

There's an oval stamp, with her date of entry stamped and IR5 written by hand. She can use it for entry? The visa itself has already expired - they gave her pretty short notice for the initial entry.

 

But what about this yellow envelope? Why they gave it back? What to do with it?

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

1 minute ago, Ohmohm said:

There's an oval stamp, with her date of entry stamped and IR5 written by hand. She can use it for entry? The visa itself has already expired - they gave her pretty short notice for the initial entry.

 

But what about this yellow envelope? Why they gave it back? What to do with it?

Yes, that’s an i551 stamp and she can use it for entry. (The visa is single use so the expiry date is effectively the date she uses it anyway.) The temporary i551 is valid for one year from date of entry.

[Ohmohm 0]

9 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I’m more concerned about the sealed yellow envelope.

Me too.

Yes, it is directly related to her medicals. I don't have it with me, but it states "Do not open", and she was instructed to present it to the officer upon initial entry, which she did.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Ohmohm

[DELETEME1234 208]

15 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

To be clear, she has one automatically if she entered on an immigrant visa with the annotation: “UPON ENDORSEMENT SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEAR”

Right, I'm not thinking straight. 

 

15 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I’m more concerned about the sealed yellow envelope. OP,  I am not clear if this is the one that CBP was supposed to take at entry, or if it is something specifically related to the medical issue.

I honestly assumed miscommunication, in turn relayed to OP. The annotation implies B1 tuberculosis pulmonary or extra-pulmonary. Surely they wouldn't endorse it without making sure she satisfied CBP (and USPHS) before admitting her? There's no 'after entry process' AFAIK. 

ETA: Aren't a lot (most?) medicals not digital these days? Perhaps they had digital access to it and didn't bother to check the hard copies?

Edited March 16, 2020 by Poseidon1212

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

13 minutes ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Right, I'm not thinking straight. 

 

I honestly assumed miscommunication, in turn relayed to OP. The annotation implies B1 tuberculosis pulmonary or extra-pulmonary. Surely they wouldn't endorse it without making sure she satisfied CBP (and USPHS) before admitting her? There's no 'after entry process' AFAIK. 

ETA: Aren't a lot (most?) medicals not digital these days? Perhaps they had digital access to it and didn't bother to check the hard copies?

Again, it’s not clear to me if this is some kind of medical related envelope (in which case I understand why the CBP officer gave it back, they have a copy of medicals in the visa packet and don’t keep the extra) or if this is actually the yellow immigrant visa packet that was supposed to be handed in (which includes a whole lot of things other than just the medical). Some consulates are issuing the visa packet electronically now but some are still giving physical visa packets... the famed “do not open” yellow envelope...which sounds to me like it may be what OP’s mom has.

@ohmohm, what is the current case status of your mom’s case on https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do ?

 

[Ohmohm 0]

12 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

 

@ohmohm, what is the current case status of your mom’s case on https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do ?

 

Immigrant visa fee payment received.

We did receive an SSN card, if it matters.

Edit: she also has a note "IV DOCs in CCD", which I think is related to your question.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Ohmohm

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

2 minutes ago, Ohmohm said:

Immigrant visa fee payment received.

We did receive an SSN card, if it matters.

Ok, then it’s probably not the visa packet she’s still got. In that case all you need to do is wait. If the plastic card hasn’t arrived after 120 days after entry, you can submit an inquiry. In the meanwhile, as above, she can use the temporary i551 in her visa to travel and return.

[Ohmohm 0]

51 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Ok, then it’s probably not the visa packet she’s still got. In that case all you need to do is wait. If the plastic card hasn’t arrived after 120 days after entry, you can submit an inquiry. In the meanwhile, as above, she can use the temporary i551 in her visa to travel and return.

Thanks, but what to do with this yellow medical envelope?

 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

1 hour ago, Ohmohm said:

Thanks, but what to do with this yellow medical envelope?

 

Nothing, unless you want to give it to her current doctor for her records. 

(We didn’t have a “do not open” on our medical envelope by the way ... the CBP officer told us to keep the medical records for our own records. That’s why I know they have a copy in the visa packet - he showed us.)

Edited March 17, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[geowrian 22,338]

I'm assuming her medical was only valid for 3 months, and the visa's validity expired at the same time.

So long as she entered within that timeframe - which appears to be the case as she was admitted - then it shouldn't be an issue anymore.

[Almostthere08 16]

21 hours ago, Ohmohm said:

There's an oval stamp, with her date of entry stamped and IR5 written by hand. She can use it for entry? The visa itself has already expired - they gave her pretty short notice for the initial entry.

 

But what about this yellow envelope? Why they gave it back? What to do with it?

This happened to my husband. They didn’t take his packet in Houston. After going back to the airport and calling around,  We had to go back up to the CBP office located right outside of the airport. They opened it checked the stamp and had us search the I-94 to make sure the entry was officially recorded. Then they said we were good and they would put it in the next batch to be sent to USCIS. We took it back about 2 weeks after he was here.