New AOS subforum needed: "Civil Surgeons & I-693 Forms"

[TBoneTX 45,568]

All:

A subliminal botherment has, like an refulgent pimple that is overdue for lancing, reached a head in my head.

The Adjustment of Status forum needs a second subforum (with clickable link) for Civil Surgeons & I-693 Forms. Currently, the posts about these two topics are spread all over.

The civil surgeon/I-693 issue is the only part of the AOS-filing process wherein VJers cannot completely control their speed and success. The challenge becomes more acute, given Dr. L.E. Arnold's retirement this month: VJers will be scrambling individually to find non-rip-off, speedy appointments with... whom?

Lest someone suggest it, I think that a pinned thread atop the AOS forum would not be the best venue for active updates and questions. I believe that the VJ community would be best served if all posts concerning CSs and the I-693 were intact in a dedicated subforum.

What is thought about this, si man?

[rebeccajo 14]

An entire subforum?

I disagree.

[LaL 418]

Disagree as well. It's a PART of the AOS process.

[rebeccajo 14]

The civil surgeon/I-693 issue is the only part of the AOS-filing process wherein VJers cannot completely control their speed and success.

Is there no one caught in name check any more?

Edited December 5, 2009 by rebeccajo

[TBoneTX 45,568]

An entire subforum?

Well, RJ, you've expressed dislike for subfora in general, in the past. And yes, it's a PART of the AOS process, but the only part where each individual is obliged to reinvent the wheel; read the original post.

Name-check is completely out of any VJ member's hands. Thanks to the VJ Guides, every "paperwork" aspect of AOS-filing is IN our hands. The civil-surgeon/I-693 process, in stark contrast, is largely NOT -- and the finite timeframes make this element of AOS a crucial one to accomplish efficiently and early.

If someone has an idea of something LESS than a subforum but MORE than the scattered and unorganized search-for-related-messages of now, please suggest it.

Edited December 6, 2009 by TBoneTX

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My opinion is that this should be consistent. It seems to be the most inconsistent part of the process, certainly after arriving in the US. Some people are approved with DS-3025 only, some get stuck into another whole medical exam.

Ideally, I would like to see it tken out of the CS system entirely. There is no reason any medicla doctor can't sign off on this. I have worked with my Senator, Bernie Sanders. He is aware of the situation and you could write to him if you want. His "planA" is to persuade the USCIS to simply change their rules and avoid the legislative process. For taxpayers this is good as if it becomes a legislative process some liberal will add a $100 trillion health care plan or something to the bill. Much easier to just change department regulations.

It is unfairly inconsistent, and clearly abused by some of the CSs. The goal is to change regulations for the applicant to submit their medical exam within one year (given at POE) their DS-3025 and records of receiving any needed vaccines from a lisenced US doctor.

[rebeccajo 14]

An entire subforum?

Well, RJ, you've expressed dislike for subfora in general, in the past. And yes, it's a PART of the AOS process, but the only part where each individual is obliged to reinvent the wheel; read the original post.

Name-check is completely out of any VJ member's hands. Thanks to the VJ Guides, every "paperwork" aspect of AOS-filing is IN our hands. The civil-surgeon/I-693 process, in stark contrast, is largely NOT -- and the finite timeframes make this element of AOS a crucial one to accomplish efficiently and early.

If someone has an idea of something LESS than a subforum but MORE than the scattered and unorganized search-for-related-messages of now, please suggest it.

I believe the member SunDrop volunteered (in a recent post) to create a spreadsheet.

[rebeccajo 14]

I realize this has been a problem for ages and I don't want to sound like I have no sympathy for people trying to figure out how to resolve it. I think though there is a common sense answer for why the problem happens.

First there is inconsistency at the Service Center level. Some AO's seem satisfied with DS-3025 and some aren't.

Secondly, most immigrants seeking a medical exam from a US Civil Surgeon won't have seen a panel physician abroad, and therefore won't already be carrying proof of innocculation. I know I know I know that US civil surgeons should be able to follow procedure and a K1 visa holder should not have to tell them how to do their job. It's highly likely though that a Civil Surgeon has never had such a request before as the number of K1 adjustees is so very low.

I have my doubts that the Service would be willing to change policy as to allow any physician to certify to the health of an immigrant. The State Department doesn't do that abroad. IMO, efforts of members might be better spent mass-mailing certified letters to USCIS asking them to clarify for adjudicators (through Interoffice Memorandum) the paperwork necessary for proof of innocculation. (I actually believe there is an edict out there someplace which specifies I693 but if DS-3025 will suffice then that should be cleared up).

For our purposes here, SunDrop's spreadsheet would be helpful. Also if there is instruction somewhere out there on the web which tells a Civil Surgeon that it's OK to deviate from the normal full medical, I'd suggest we have that linked here on the site in a prominent place so members could print it out and take it with them to show the CS.

Edited December 6, 2009 by rebeccajo

[rebeccajo 14]

These links might be useful:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/pdf/civil_sur...nstructions.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/pdf/civil_surgeon_ti/memo_.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/pdf/civil_surgeon_ti/faq_cs.pdf

[rebeccajo 14]

What is the common wisdom offered to readers in this community as they are about to attend their overseas medical exam?

I know back when Wes got his visa four years ago, we were advising aliens to MAKE SURE they got a copy of their DS-3025 before they left the panel physician's office. Is this still being done?

[Nik+Heather 121]

I don't understand why a pinned thread where people post the civil surgeons who charge a reasonable fee wouldn't be the best place for this VJ topic?? When people find one, they can reply to the thread and insert their find to the list. Then you just check the last update, and find your state, and Ta Da! anecdotal experience at your fingertips!

As I mentioned to SunDrop, a spreadsheet maintained by someone else who may loose interest at some time, will become out of date. Also, when I'm looking for some info on VJ, I'm more likely to want to find something on VJ - having a pinned thread is pretty obvious place to look, and easy to find.

What, exactly, is the downside?

[MoonStar9913 0]

Honestly, I agree with T-Bone that a subforum would be helpful. I never understood why there weren't more. I feel that sometimes it is hard to find information on this site because each Forum covers so much and it takes a lot of time to find what you are looking for. I do not think that a pinned topic would be particularly helpful because those tend to get so full (sometimes with off-topic posters) that I find them annoying to have to look through. Plus, it is easy to forgot to check a pinned topic to see if it has been updated.

[rebeccajo 14]

Honestly, I agree with T-Bone that a subforum would be helpful. I never understood why there weren't more. I feel that sometimes it is hard to find information on this site because each Forum covers so much and it takes a lot of time to find what you are looking for. I do not think that a pinned topic would be particularly helpful because those tend to get so full (sometimes with off-topic posters) that I find them annoying to have to look through. Plus, it is easy to forgot to check a pinned topic to see if it has been updated.

Wouldn't be hard to find stuff around here if people posted in the proper upper forums, rather than their Regional Forum.

Seriously though, how would sifting through an entire sub-forum help keep the info organized? The ONLY way I could imagine organization would be FIFTY sub-forums within the sub-forum itself (one for each state).

Edited December 7, 2009 by rebeccajo

[MoonStar9913 0]

A separate subforum would help divide out some of the information. It would also make the main forum easier to search through because it wouldn't be full of posts about the civil surgeons. Even if people always posted correctly, it is still a lot of information to sort through. The forums cover a lot of information and I think more subforums would be helpful. I don't see what the negative side to a few more subforums would be, it wouldn't have to be as drastic as 50 subforums. If you think per state information is very important, then you could divide information into state portals, like the country portals. I am still early in the process so I don't know if that is worth it or not but that would seem to be a better option than 50 subforums.

[SunDrop 59]

A spreadsheet is searchable, easily. It can also be authorized with several owners, like Ewok, long-serving members/mods. Same with the email. All the name details and passwords are impersonal, so easily shared with Ewok so he can reassign someone if I (or whoever) fell off the face of the earth. I'd like to think that short of some hideous brain injury, I'm not so irresponsible as to think 'oh screw this, I'm just gonna leave it without so much as a word'. I have a list of my online 'places', emails and passwords and who to contact in case of an emergency. Not the approach of a flake.. lol This is the very reason I didn't say 'hey, PM me'. It keeps it generic and sharable.

Links can easily be placed in the guides or have a single post pinned and locked with a link to the database, data submission information, who/ how to amend information if you find any that's out of date. It can easily be included in the wiki.

There's no reason why it has to be held on googledocs, depending on Ewok's take on this. There were other suggestions made to me that included having extra fields on the timeline, to make it searchable by state within an existing database.

But having a great big long pinned thread with information that should be end up being copious really isn't effective. You get posts that are somewhat OT, people start posting reviews or making critical comments about named CSes.... mod hell, if you ask me.

Treated as a project, to fully, effectively and expediently develop a valuable VJ resource, we could split out the CSes list provided by the USCIS and have a team of 'checkers' simply calling and asking them quite simply if they offer the vaccination transcription only, what it costs, if not how much is an AOS medical and how quickly can they have an appointment? Not like we don't have a lot of people sitting in their respective states twiddling thumbs whilst waiting for their EADs. Operation CSDb! lol...