Form I-693 Green Card Medical Certification Validity Extended

A December 30 2009 memorandum issued by the USCIS extends the validity of medical examinations submitted along with green card applications. Formerly, I-693 medical examination/certification forms submitted with permanent residency applications were valid for one year. If the green application that the medical examination was submitted with is not decided within that period, the applicant was frequently required to submit an updated one. This sometimes resulted in green card applicants having to submit multiple medical examination prior to the completion of the adjustment of status process at great cost and expense.

With this announcement however, medical examinations submitted with adjustment of status applications remain valid until the adjustment of status applications are adjudicated. This new procedure makes it unnecessary to submit duplicate medical certifications which can be quite expensive for aliens.

[Review USCIS Memorandum on Medical Certifications]