DS-3025, I-693, and K1 Visa

[DerekJT 0]

My wife (as of last week!) and I are getting ready to file for her AOS. She arrived on a K1 fiancee visa on Oct. 22, we married Nov. 25, and now we are getting ready to send off her documents.

Our question regards the I-693 and DS-3025 requirements. I have done extensive research on this topic, and not only haven't I found anybody in quite the same situation, but most of the information I've found seems to be for an older version of the DS-3025.

My wife has a copy of her DS-3025, on which the Panel Physician marked in the Summary for Immigrant Visa Applicants, "US vaccination requirements COMPLETE (Requesting a Blanket Waiver)." However, in the section up above detailing her vaccinations, two of the four required vaccinations are marked B (that is, "Insufficient time interval to complete series") and two are marked D ("Not routinely available"). Since arriving in the U.S., she has gotten both of those marked D.

All of my research has suggested that we get her DS-3025 "transcribed" onto a new I-693, except that nobody else posting questions and getting that answer seemed to be in quite the same situation as we are. In calling around, the only Civil Surgeon who both a) seemed to know what the heck I was talking about and b) had the time of day for me, told me that he would have to re-administer both vaccinations marked B before signing off. His logic was that the time interval within which my wife should have gotten her second round of shots expired a few months ago, and he would have to give her those shots AGAIN (that is, the first round!) to meet US requirements. Essentially, a visit with the Civil Surgeon would run us about $150 for the shots (which she has already had TWICE, once in preparation for her visa interview and once when she was a child in China, albeit without documentation that time), in addition to his $98 fee just for filling out the forms.

Is it possible to just submit the DS-3025 (again, marked "COMPLETE" in the Summary for Immigrant Visa Applicants) along with copies of the two vaccination records CVS gave us when my wife got her latest two shots? Or is it likely that our failure to pay into this Civil Surgeon racket and submit the vaccination-related parts of the I-693 will result in an RFE?

Much thanks for any advice!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

You don't need to see a civil surgeon if yours are complete. You only need the first one in a series for AOS. The ones marked B are fine, but if you have required vaccinations marked D, then that means they were not received and you need to see a civil surgeon to get those missing shots. The civil surgeon may want to give another shot in a series, if the time interval has been long enough now.

Your situation is more than quite common and there are tons of threads about this here on VJ alone. The pinned topic at the top of this forum discusses all the info you need to know. It is up to date and even has a link to the current DS-3025 form edition that is being used. > http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/551080-immunizations-ds-3025-or-i-693/

[DerekJT 0]

You don't need to see a civil surgeon if yours are complete. You only need the first one in a series for AOS. The ones marked B are fine, but if you have required vaccinations marked D, then that means they were not received and you need to see a civil surgeon to get those missing shots. The civil surgeon may want to give another shot in a series, if the time interval has been long enough now.

Your situation is more than quite common and there are tons of threads about this here on VJ alone. The pinned topic at the top of this forum discusses all the info you need to know. It is up to date and even has a link to the current DS-3025 form edition that is being used. > http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/551080-immunizations-ds-3025-or-i-693/

Thank you, KayDeeCee. I very much appreciate you taking the time to respond to my question. However, I studied the post to which you refer (and many others) thoroughly before posting my question.

1) We have code "B" by varicella and MMR. The Civil Surgeon here says that he has to readminister these before signing off on an I-693. We are beyond the 4-8 weeks within which this would be a "second dose," so he is insisting on readministering a "first dose" before filling out the I-693, on which he would presumably just encode them as "B" all over again, just with a new date written next to them. None of the sources I have seen, including those which refer to "transcription," have mentioned this problem.

2) The flu and Tdap both have "D" written in. Actually, the Panel Physician checked off "Td," but every resource I've seen (and the doctor at CVS) said that they almost certainly meant Tdap, which is more inclusive than Td, so that's what my wife got here in the U.S. We now have documentation showing that she has gotten these vaccinations. Moreover, I posted my question because nobody else I've seen posting has mentioned that their Panel Physician checked off "US vaccination requirements COMPLETE (Requesting a Blanket Waiver)." In fact, the post to which you refer suggests that K1 medicals often leave this area blank.

Given these circumstances, can we submit the DS-3025 with the added vaccination documentation, or do we need to go through the rigmarole of the CS/I-693 process? And if we need to go the I-693 route, do we really need to do the first dose of these vaccines all over again??

[DerekJT 0]

Adding to my confusion, KayDeeCee, is this quote from the USCIS Policy Manual, on waivers: "The term “nationwide vaccine shortage” does not apply to the medical examination conducted by a panel physician overseas. If a vaccine is not available in the applicant’s country, the panel physician will annotate the vaccination assessment with the term “not routinely available.” If an officer encounters this annotation, the officer may grant a blanket waiver based on this annotation alone. ​"

It is unclear to me whether this means that the reviewing USCIS officer in the US, at the time of AOS, has discretion on this matter - and if so, whether anyone has any experience on how they use that discretion.

A friend of mine whose husband recently arrived from Panama on a marriage visa said that he had his medical done in Panama, then turned in his DS-3025 some months later when applying for AOS, and was approved - despite only having gotten the "first dose" for some of his vaccinations.

The Policy Manual quote comes from this source: http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/Print/PolicyManual-Volume9.html

Edited December 1, 2015 by DerekJT

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

The civil surgeon should not repeat what was already given. If they want to give the next dose in the series and mark both doses as having been administered ,then that makes much more sense. I would call around to other civil surgeons.

You can send in a copy of your DS-3025 and just hope it is accepted as is and that you do not get an RFE. Then just deal with finding a CS if you happen to get an RFE asking you to get the vaccinations or a new medical sometime throughout your process.

If the vaccine is not available, then you need to get it here in the US before applying for AOS. The vaccine requirements are for AOS and not the K-1 via itself. Not clear on the part about your friend because if they entered the US with a spousal visa, then they would not file for AOS. However, I can tell you that only a first dose in any series is required for AOS.

[DerekJT 0]

Everywhere I look says only the first dose is required. But when a CS is filling out my wife's forms, how does that doctor encode the two vaccinations which had been listed as "Insufficient time"? The CS can write "5/29/15" for the date the first dose was administered... but what does the doctor write for a letter code, given that in fact not all doses have been administered? The time for a second dose has passed on both vaccines.