Stewart's Immigration Services

Stewart's Immigration Services ******Certified Specialist Immigration Consultant.*****
Apply for Citizenship, Green Card, Fiance Visa, DACA, Sentri applications, Mexican permanent residence.
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Assisting the community with Immigration process,
Green Card renewals, Citizenship, Adjustment of Status, Fiance Visa Petitions also known as K-1 Visa, DACA, Consular PROCESS. SE HABLA ESPAÑOL!!!

Green Card extensión for 24 months !!!
10/07/2022

Green Card extensión for 24 months !!!

07/30/2022

Very good news for TPS holders!!! Now you can Adjust Status if you have been Paroled!!!
Beginning July 1, 2022, USCIS will issue a new travel authorization document to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries: Form I-512T, Authorization for Travel by a Noncitizen to the United States. The new policy means that thousands of TPS holders may be newly eligible to apply for a green card if they have a qualifying relative.

Buenas noticias para los TPS!! Ahora ya puede Ajustar su Estatus si ha si ha obtenido un Parole!!!
A partir del 1 de julio de 2022, USCIS emitirá un nuevo documento de autorización de viaje a los beneficiarios del Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS): Formulario I-512T, Autorización de Viaje por un No Ciudadano a Estados Unidos. La nueva politica significa que miles de TPS podrían ser elegíbles para aplicar para Green Card si tienen un miembro calificante.

Cuando el futuro Inmigrante ha completado los 40 quarts, no es necesario enviar un Affidavit of Support. Cuando el p...
10/23/2021

Cuando el futuro Inmigrante ha completado los 40 quarts, no es necesario enviar un Affidavit of Support. Cuando el petitioner vive fuera de USA temporalmente, aún así puede firmar un AFFIDAVIT of Support.

Buenas noticias para residentes de Mexico y Canada!! Se levanta la restricción impuesta por casi dos Años!!!
10/13/2021

Buenas noticias para residentes de Mexico y Canada!! Se levanta la restricción impuesta por casi dos Años!!!

10/13/2021

Information about “ Inspected, Admitted or Parole” and evidences to be eligible for Adjustmentof Status under INA 245(a)

1. Inspection
Authority

Per delegation by the Secretary of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has jurisdiction over and exclusive inspection authority at ports-of-entry.[10]

Definition and Scope

Inspection is the formal process of determining whether a noncitizen may lawfully enter the United States. Immigration laws as early as 1875 specified that inspection must occur prior to a noncitizen’s landing in or entering the United States and that prohibited noncitizens were to be returned to the country from which they came at no cost or penalty to the conveyor or vessel.[11] Inspections for air, sea, and land arrivals are now codified in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), including criminal penalties for illegal entry.[12]

To lawfully enter the United States, a noncitizen must apply and present himself or herself in person to an immigration officer at a U.S. port of entry when the port is open for inspection.[13] A noncitizen who arrives at a port of entry and presents himself or herself for inspection is an applicant for admission. Through the inspection process, an immigration officer determines whether the noncitizen is admissible and may enter the United States under all the applicable provisions of immigration laws.

As part of the inspection, the noncitizen must:

Present any and all required documentation, including fingerprints, photographs, other biometric identifiers, documentation of status in the United States, and any other requested evidence to determine the noncitizen’s identity and admissibility; and

Establish that he or she is not subject to removal under immigration laws, Executive Orders, or Presidential Proclamations.[14]

In general, if the noncitizen presents himself or herself for questioning in person, the inspection requirement is met.[15] Nonetheless, if the noncitizen enters the United States by falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, the noncitizen is not considered to have been inspected by an immigration officer. In addition, the entry is not considered an admission for immigration purposes.[16]

Inspection Outcomes

Upon inspection, the officer at the port of entry typically decides one of the following outcomes for the noncitizen:

The officer admits them;

The officer paroles them;

The officer allows them to withdraw his or her application for admission and depart immediately from the United States;[17]

The officer denies them admission into the United States; or

The officer defers the inspection to a later time at either the same or another CBP office or a port of entry.[18]

2. Admission[19]
A noncitizen is admitted if the following conditions are met: [20]

The noncitizen applied for admission as an “alien” at a port of entry; and

An immigration officer inspected the applicant for admission as an “alien” and authorized him or her to enter the United States in accordance with the procedures for admission.[21]

A noncitizen who meets these two requirements is admitted, even if the person obtained the admission by fraud.[22] Likewise, the noncitizen is admitted, even if the CBP officer performed a cursory inspection.

As long as the noncitizen meets the procedural requirements for admission, the noncitizen meets the inspected and admitted requirement for adjustment of status.[23] Any type of admission can meet the inspected and admitted requirement, which includes, but is not limited to, admission as a nonimmigrant, an immigrant, or a refugee.

Notwithstanding, if the noncitizen makes a false claim to U.S. citizenship or to U.S. nationality at the port of entry and an immigration officer permits the noncitizen to enter the United States, the noncitizen has not been admitted.[24] A U.S. citizen arriving at a port of entry is not subject to inspection; therefore, a noncitizen who makes a false claim to U.S. citizenship is considered to have entered without inspection.[25]

Similarly, a noncitizen who entered the United States after falsely claiming to be a returning LPR is not considered to have been procedurally inspected and admitted because a returning LPR generally is not an applicant for admission.[26] An LPR returning from a temporary trip abroad would only be considered to be seeking admission or readmission to the United States if any of the following factors applies:

The LPR has abandoned or relinquished his or her LPR status;

The LPR has been absent from the United States for a continuous period in excess of 180 days;

The LPR has engaged in illegal activity after having departed the United States;

The LPR has departed from the United States while under legal process seeking his or her removal from the United States, including removal proceedings under the INA and extradition proceedings;

The LPR has committed an offense described in the criminal-related inadmissibility grounds, unless the LPR has been granted relief for the offense;[27] or

The LPR is attempting to enter at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers or has not been admitted to the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer.[28]

Evidence of Admission

An Arrival/Departure Record (Form I-94), including a replacement[29] when appropriate, is the most common document evidencing a noncitizen’s admission.[30] The following are other types of documentation that may be accepted as proof of admission into the United States:

Admission stamp in passport, which may be verified using DHS systems;

Employment Authorization Card (Form I-688A), for special agricultural worker applicants, provided it was valid during the last claimed date of entry on the adjustment application;

Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688), for special agricultural workers or legalization applicants granted temporary residence, provided it was valid during the last claimed date of entry on the adjustment application; and

Border Crossing Card (Form I-586 or Form DSP-150[31]), provided it was valid on the date of last claimed entry.

When inspected and admitted to the United States, the following nonimmigrants are exempt from the issuance of an Arrival/Departure Record:[32]

A Canadian citizen admitted as a visitor for business, visitor for pleasure, or who was permitted to directly transit through the United States;

A nonimmigrant residing in the British Virgin Islands who was admitted only to the United States Virgin Islands as a visitor for business or pleasure;[33]

A Mexican national admitted with a B-1/B-2 Visa and Border Crossing Card (Form DSP-150) at a land or sea port of entry as a visitor for business or pleasure for a period of 30 days to travel within 25 miles of the border; and

A Mexican national in possession of a Mexican diplomatic or official passport.[34]

In these situations, an applicant should submit alternate evidence to prove his or her inspection and admission to the United States. This may include a Border Crossing Card, plane tickets evidencing travel to the United States, or other corroborating evidence.

3. Parole
Authority

The Secretary of Homeland Security delegated parole authority to USCIS, CBP, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).[35]

Definition and Scope

A noncitizen is paroled if the following conditions are met:

They are seeking admission to the United States at a port of entry; and

An immigration officer inspected them as an “alien” and permitted them to enter the United States without determining whether they may be admitted into the United States.[36]

A grant of parole is a temporary and discretionary act exercised on a case-by-case basis. Parole, by definition, is not an admission.[37]

Paroled for Deferred Inspection[38]

On occasion, CBP grants deferred inspection to arriving aliens found inadmissible during a preliminary inspection at a port of entry. Deferred inspection is generally granted only after CBP:

Verifies the person’s identity and nationality;

Determines that the person would likely be able to overcome the identified inadmissibility by obtaining a waiver or additional evidence; and

Determines that the person does not present a national security risk to the United States.

The decision to defer inspection is at the CBP officer’s discretion.

If granted deferred inspection, CBP paroles the person into the United States and defers completion of the inspection to a later time. A person paroled for a deferred inspection typically reports for completion of inspection within 30 days of the deferral[39] to a CBP office with jurisdiction over the area where the person will be staying or residing in the United States.[40]

The grant of parole for a deferred inspection satisfies the “inspected and paroled” requirement for purposes of adjustment eligibility.[41]

Urgent Humanitarian Reasons or Significant Public Benefit

DHS may parole a noncitizen based on urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons.[42] DHS may grant urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit parole only on a case-by-case basis.[43] Any type of urgent humanitarian, significant public benefit, or deferred inspection-directed parole meets the “paroled into the United States” requirement.[44]

Parole in Place: Parole of Certain Noncitizens Present Without Admission or Parole

A noncitizen who is present in the United States without inspection and admission or inspection and parole is an applicant for admission.[45] DHS can exercise its discretion to parole such a person into the United States.[46] In general, USCIS grants parole in place only sparingly.

The fact that a person is a spouse, child, or parent of an active duty member of the U.S. armed forces, a member in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve, or someone who previously served in the U.S. armed forces or the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve ordinarily weighs heavily in favor of parole in place. Absent a criminal conviction or other serious adverse factors, parole in place would generally be an appropriate exercise of discretion for such a person.

If DHS grants parole before a person files an adjustment application, the applicant meets the “inspected and paroled” requirement for adjustment. Parole in place does not permit approval of an adjustment application that was filed before the grant of parole.[47]

Parole in place does not relieve the applicant of the need to meet all other eligibility requirements for adjustment of status and the favorable exercise of discretion.[48] For example, except for immediate relatives and certain other immigrants, an applicant must have continuously maintained a lawful status since entry into the United States.[49]

10/12/2021

14 Aug New USCIS Policy On TPS As A Pathway To A Green Card

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ new policy indicates that a grant of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) is considered an admission for INA Section 245(a) purposes for adjustment of status applicants residing in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits. TPS recipients do not have to leave the United States and consular process through a United States Embassy or Consulate. Instead, families are kept together and lives continue in the United States. The new USCIS position came from Flores v. USCIS in the Sixth Circuit and Ramirez v. Brown in the Ninth Circuit; both courts held that a TPS grantee is considered “inspected and admitted” under INA Section 245(a).

The USCIS’ willingness to recognize TPS as an admission is significant because residents in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits who were granted TPS now may apply for a green card in the United States. The Sixth and Ninth Circuit’s large geographic reach includes a large number TPS grantees. The Ninth Circuit encompasses California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. The Sixth Circuit includes Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky.

In Ramirez v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit held that a TPS recipient is eligible to adjust to legal permanent resident status in the United Status. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that receiving TPS deems an individual to be in lawful status and satisfies the nonimmigrant requirements, such as inspection and admission, for adjustment of status purposes.

In Ramirez, a dispute arose over whether being a TPS designee provided a pathway to obtaining lawful permanent residence status under the adjustment statute. The United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (“USCIS”) found Ramirez ineligible to adjust to lawful permanent resident status on that ground that he last entered the country without inspection therefore he had not inspected, admitted or paroled as required by Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) Section 245(a). The Ninth Circuit held that TPS designation provides a pathway to a green card.

INA Section 245(a) requires that an applicant prove that he or she has been inspected and admitted (or paroled) before being eligible to adjust status to lawful permanent residency. Because of the Ramirez decision, TPS recipients who entered the United States without inspection are now considered admitted and qualify for adjustment of status under INA Section 245(a) provided they have an independent means of immigrating.

Prior to the Flores and Ramirez decisions, only those with proof of a legal entry, an exception under INA 245(i), advance parole, or parole based on a family member in the United States Armed Forces could complete their lawful permanent residency process without leaving the United States.

TPS may be granted by the USCIS to foreign nationals due to conditions in their country, such as a natural disaster or civil war, which prevent the foreign nationals who are living in the United States from returning safely to their country. The Department of Homeland Security has currently designated the following countries for TPS: El Salvador, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

TPS status allows foreign nationals to live and work in the United States without the fear of being removed/deported. TPS is a temporary benefit that does not directly lead to a green card. However, registration for TPS does not prevent one from applying for nonimmigrant status, adjustment of status based on an immigrant petition, or any other immigration benefit or protection.

For TPS grantees outside of the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, attention must be directed to monitoring current pending cases in their respective jurisdictions. For example this year, in Bonilla v. Johnson, the United States District Court, District of Minnesota, held that a grant of TPS satisfies the threshold requirement of admission for purposes of becoming eligible for adjustment of status to a lawful permanent resident.

In addition, TPS grantees should consider alternative routes to obtaining a green card. The Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver (“Provisional Waiver”) allows beneficiaries of immigrant visa petitions who were not inspected and admitted to the United States to apply for a waiver of the ten-year bar that will be triggered by departing the country to apply for an immigrant visa abroad. The Provisional Waiver allows applicants to know whether their waiver is approved or not before departing the United States. Thus, the uncertainty and risks of leaving the United States to consular process are alleviated. The Provisional Waiver decreases the time that families are separated and keeps families together during the consular processing of an immigrant visa.

10/12/2021

Temporary Protected Status

Temporary Protected Status is Generally Not an Admission for INA 245(a) Adjustment Purposes

Temporary protected status (TPS) is not an admission for purposes of adjustment under INA 245(a), except in those circuits where a circuit court has ruled otherwise.[55]

Therefore, a noncitizen who entered the United States without having been inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled, and who is subsequently granted TPS, does not meet the inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled requirement under INA 245(a) for adjustment.[56]

For purposes of adjustment of status under INA 245, a noncitizen in TPS is considered as being in and maintaining lawful status as a nonimmigrant only during the period that TPS is in effect.[57] Absent circuit court precedent to the contrary, TPS does not satisfy the separate INA 245(a) requirement of being inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled, nor does it cure any previous failure to maintain continuously a lawful status in the United States.

Congress made clear that TPS was intended to be a temporary form of relief and not a path to permanent residence.[58] There is no statutory language or legislative history to suggest that Congress intended a grant of TPS to be considered an admission or parole for adjustment purposes. Therefore, it is USCIS’ long-held position that a grant of TPS does not cure a noncitizen’s entry without inspection or constitute an inspection and admission of the noncitizen.[59] The federal appellate courts for the Third and Eleventh Circuits have affirmed USCIS’ interpretation that a grant of TPS is not an admission for adjustment purposes.[60]

Temporary Protected Status is Considered an Admission for INA 245(a) Adjustment Purposes in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits Only

Despite USCIS’ and legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)’s longstanding interpretation, the federal appellate courts in the Sixth Circuit[61] in Flores v. USCIS[62] and the Ninth Circuit[63] in Ramirez v. Brown[64] have ruled that, for purposes of adjustment of status, a noncitizen who enters the United States without inspection and who is subsequently granted TPS meets the inspected and admitted requirement under INA 245(a).[65] Therefore, if the applicant resides in the Sixth or Ninth Circuits, the applicant is deemed admitted for purposes of adjustment of status under INA 245(a), but only so long as the applicant remains in TPS on the date that USCIS adjudicates his or her application for adjustment of status.

USCIS does not consider Flores and Ramirez to extend to noncitizens who may have once had TPS, including those whose TPS was withdrawn by USCIS or the U.S. Department of Justice due to ineligibility, or for whom a country’s TPS designation has been terminated by DHS.

USCIS does not apply Flores outside the Sixth Circuit or Ramirez outside the Ninth Circuit.

A TPS beneficiary in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits must still be otherwise eligible for adjustment of status and warrant a favorable exercise of discretion.[66] The TPS beneficiary must still have a visa number available,[67] must be admissible[68] to the United States, and may not be barred from adjustment.[69] For example, a TPS beneficiary may be ineligible based on a failure to maintain continuously a lawful status during any period before the grant of TPS, unless eligible for an exemption from this bar to adjustment.[70] Also, a noncitizen who last entered the United States as a noncitizen crewman is barred from adjustment of status under INA 245(a), notwithstanding the subsequent grant of TPS.[71]

Return Following Departure from United States with Prior Consent

TPS beneficiaries may travel abroad temporarily with the prior consent of DHS pursuant to INA 244(f)(3).[72] If a TPS beneficiary travels abroad temporarily, with prior consent from DHS, he or she may return to the United States in accordance with the terms of DHS’s authorization in the same immigration status that he or she had at the time of departure, with certain exceptions.[73] Upon return, the noncitizen resumes the same immigration status and the same incidents of status that the person possessed before departure.[74] The departure and return of the noncitizen pursuant to INA 244(f)(3) makes no change at all to any aspect of the noncitizen’s prior immigration status in the United States. Travel authorization for a TPS beneficiary “is a unique form of travel authorization and operates as a legal fiction that restores the alien to the status quo ante as if the alien had never left the United States.”[75]

Since the purpose of Section 304(c) of the Miscellaneous and Technical Immigration and Nationality Amendments Act of 1991 (MTINA) is to return the TPS beneficiary to the “same immigration status the alien had at the time of departure,” this provision of MTINA “cannot be interpreted to put TPS recipients in a better position than they had been upon their physical departure from the United States[.]”[76] The TPS beneficiary’s travel and return “does not alter their immigration status for purposes of adjustment of status[.]”[77]

When DHS provides prior consent to a TPS beneficiary for his or her travel abroad, it documents that consent by providing an advance parole document (Form I-512) to the noncitizen, as required by regulation.[78] DHS issues an advance parole document for this purpose solely as a matter of administrative convenience. TPS travel authorization is unique and affords the TPS beneficiary only what is provided for under MTINA by restoring the noncitizen to “the same immigration status the alien had at the time of departure.”[79] The travel authorization for the TPS beneficiary allows the noncitizen “to return to the United States in a procedurally regular fashion after foreign travel[.]”[80] However, “[a] status quo ante return cannot create a condition needed to establish eligibility for a benefit for which the alien” would not have been eligible at the time of departure.[81] TPS beneficiaries who depart and return to the United States with the prior consent of DHS pursuant to INA 244(f)(3) are neither admitted nor paroled upon return, but simply resume the same immigration status they had before departing. “The same immigration status” encompasses not only that status of a noncitizen who may be present without inspection and admission or inspection and parole, but all other legal incidents of status, such as a noncitizen’s status in deportation, exclusion, or removal proceedings.

This is consistent with the clear intent of Congress in passing INA 244 and implementing TPS. INA 244(h) provides that a supermajority vote is required for Congress to provide TPS recipients with LPR status.[82] Therefore, TPS travel authorization under INA 244(f)(3) and Section 304(c) of MTINA cannot be construed to circumvent Congress’ intent that TPS not provide a direct path to permanent residence.[83] Congress clearly proscribed its own ability to confer permanent residency on TPS recipients, and nothing in MTINA reflects a change of that intent.[84]

The holding of Matter of Z-R-Z-C- recognized the applicant’s reliance interests on past practices and guidance and therefore the holding was not applied to that applicant. Similarly, applicants who have previously received consent to travel and have traveled with DHS consent pursuant to INA 244(f)(3) are likely to have relied upon the past practices and guidance. Accordingly, the statutory construction announced by Matter of Z-R-Z-C- only applies to TPS recipients who departed and returned to the United States under INA 244(f)(3) after the date of the AAO’s Adopted Decision, August 20, 2020.[85] Matter of Z-R-Z-C- does not impact TPS recipients who adjusted status to lawful permanent residence under the past practice or prior guidance. Such lawful permanent residents, when applying for naturalization, may not be denied based on INA 318 grounds for being adjusted under past practice or prior guidance.

10/11/2021

Adjustment of Status with TPS and Matter of Z-R-Z-C
Last updated on October 6, 2020

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a type of immigration status for citizens of certain countries which have suffered from war, natural disaster, or other significant problems. Although it’s temporary, some countries have been designated for decades. Many people look for ways to become permanent residents if possible.

Sometimes, people with TPS become eligible to apply for permanent residency. Typically this is the result of getting married to a US Citizen or having a US Citizen child turn 21, but there are sometimes other options. These cases can quickly become complicated by the passage of time, the fact that the TPS statute is unique, and because USCIS has been making significant changes especially during the Trump Administration.

Everyone applying for adjustment of status is recommended to talk with an immigration lawyer before filing, but this is especially important for people who have had TPS at some point.

Can TPS holders adjust status in the US?

Many people with TPS have successfully adjusted status to become permanent residents, but not everyone with TPS will qualify to do so. TPS was never intended to allow people to live in the US permanently and the law does not create a pathway for people to become permanent residents after a period of time. Instead, TPS holders must continuously renew their status and face the constant threat that any president could simply terminate TPS for their country, as the Trump administration has repeatedly tried to do.

While not everyone with TPS qualifies, there are some common situations in which people with TPS can adjust status:

Marriage – sometimes people with TPS marry a US Citizen or resident of the US and are able to either apply for adjustment of status or consular process in their home country
Children – once a US Citizen child turns 21, the child can petition for their parent and sometimes they can adjust status in the US
Old Petitions – Another law, INA Sec. 245(i), allows some people with very old petitions filed for them to adjust status
Other – There are many exceptions and less common options that allow people to become permanent residents, and TPS can help prevent unlawful presence and sometimes help people adjust status
Changes to TPS adjustment of status after Matter of Z-R-Z-C

In a significant departure from prior law, USCIS has decided that it will no longer consider people who travel with parole and TPS to have been paroled for purposes of adjusting status. USCIS announced this new rule when it issued and adopted Matter of Z-R-Z-C on August 20, 2020. This decision said that, despite many years of considering people who travel with parole and TPS to have been paroled, USCIS will no longer consider that parole to count for purposes of adjustment of status.

This change is extremely important. Previously, people with TPS could travel on parole and use that new entry to allow them to get residency through a family member, such as a US citizen spouse or child. Traveling with parole not only allowed those with TPS to make temporary trips abroad, but also it provided an entry for them to use to adjust status. Many people have become residents on the basis of a parole in this way.

USCIS is now saying that travel with parole after August 20, 2020, will not give people that same benefit. However, there are two important exceptions. USCIS has allowed people who already adjusted status to keep their residency and will even consider travel with parole prior to August 20, 2020, to still qualify for adjustment of status. USCIS stated that these groups of people had a significant reliance interest in the prior law.

Is this policy change legal? In my opinion it seems completely arbitrary, contrary to years of USCIS interpretation, and legally baseless. As such, I don’t expect the policy to withstand legal challenge, but those cases can take a long time. Because this is a change in policy rather than a change in law, a new president could undo this change quickly and easily.

Resources

Matter of Z-R-Z-C, Adopted Decision 2020-02 (AAO Aug. 20, 2020)
October 6, 2020 Policy Alert, PA-2020-17, Modifying TPS and Eligibility for Adjustment of Status Procedures
Categories: Green Cards and Permanent Residency, Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

09/14/2021

COVID-19 Vaccination Required for Immigration Medical Examinations

Release Date
09/14/2021

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that, effective Oct. 1, 2021, applicants subject to the immigration medical examination must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before the civil surgeon can complete an immigration medical examination and sign Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.

We are updating our policy guidance in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Aug. 17, 2021 update to the Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons. That update requires applicants subject to the immigration medical examination to complete the COVID-19 vaccine series (one or two doses, depending on the vaccine) and provide documentation of vaccination to the civil surgeon before completion of the immigration medical examination. This requirement is effective Oct. 1, 2021, and applies prospectively to all Forms I-693 signed by the civil surgeons on or after that date. We are working on updating Form I-693 and the form instructions to incorporate this new requirement.

In general, individuals applying to become a lawful permanent resident, and other applicants as deemed necessary, must undergo an immigration medical examination to show they are free from any conditions that would render them inadmissible under the health-related grounds. USCIS designates eligible physicians as civil surgeons to perform this immigration medical examination for applicants within the United States and to document the results of the immigration medical examination on the Form I-693.

USCIS may grant blanket waivers if the COVID-19 vaccine is:

Not age-appropriate;
Contraindicated due to a medical condition;
Not routinely available where the civil surgeon practices; or
Limited in supply and would cause significant delay for the applicant to receive the vaccination.
Individuals may also apply for individual waivers based on religious beliefs or moral convictions by submitting Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility.

For more information, see the policy alert (PDF, 465.02 KB).

Last Reviewed/Updated:
09/14/2021
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

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