I-693

[zeno001]

My wife arrived in the US in November, 2003 on a K-3 visa. We submitted her AOS application several months ago and have just received notice of her interview on June 15. The instructions on her interview notice indicate that, unless she has had a previous exam, she must bring form I-693 signed by an appointed civil surgeon. Does "previous exam" refer to the exam she had in China in which the results were enclosed in a sealed tube that was handed over to immigration upon her entry into the US? Since she has been here in the US, she has had the supplimentary vaccination. Is that sufficient, or will she need to have another medical examination.

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

Andrew

[frank1538]

Take a look at: http://uscis.gov/graphics/i-693faq.htm which says:

 

EXCEPTIONS:

...

Ks: If you were admitted to the United States as a fiance(e) (K-1), child of a fiance(e) (K-2), Spouse of a U.S. citizen (K-3), or child of K-3 (K-4), and received a medical examination prior to admission, then you do not require another medical examination as long as your application for adjustment of status (Form I-485) is filed within one year of your overseas medical examination. You will, however, be required to submit a vaccination supplement with our adjustment of status application. The vaccination supplement must be completed by a designated civil surgeon.

[Trigg]

There is mass confusion on this issue. I know of at least two who had there exam in China less than three months ago and were required by their local UCIS to get another. I called UCIS and talked to a supervisor that said the exam is only good for one year-regadless of when you applied. she also said the individual immigration officers can request as many exams as they see fit and can waive an exam if they see fit. she did finnaly say that if they did not request it that it probably was not needed again!

 

The rule is there are no rules. i recently went to the AOS interview with my wife. her exam was 14 months old. All we brought was the vaccination supplement with us. They never asked any med questions and never asked to see the vacc supplement which I still have in a sealed envelope from the civil surgeon.

 

so, the law reads one way and the reality reads another?

 

We got the green card with no problem!

[cosmiclobster]

My Amy just got her I-693 Vaccination supplement. I called 8 different civil surgeons and got 6 different "required" courses of action (most of which involved a complete exam and/or at least 3 shots for $200 to $300)!!. She wound up just getting a tetanus shot. She showed the doc her Chinese yellow book and a yellow book she got when she was in Russia. The receptionist told us that she would just need the tetanus shot but the doctor started in with the same ol' "she should get the full exam" BS. The doc wanted to test for syphillis. I ASSURED her that ONLY the suppliment was needed!! She just had a full exam with ALL of the required tests!!

Amy "translated" her yellow book entries and eventually the doc signed off on everything!

[zeno001]

Thanks Frank, Triqq and Cosmiclobster for your advice. Since my wife met the requirement stated in the gov's FAQs concerning Ks exempted from fulfilling the I-693, we decided to go to the interview armed only with the vaccination supplement and the a printout of the FAQ. At the interview the first item asked for was the I-693! I explained to the interviewer that we were advised that, since my wife's medical in China occurred within a year of filing for AOS, she was not required to submit to another physical exam. After the interviewer inquired where we obtained this information, I handed her the FAQ printout. She appeared to review it briefly and then put it aside and asked for the vaccination supplement. She also asked for financial documents (mutual bank accounts, credit card statements, insurance policies, etc) that substantiated our relationship, which we supplied, and finally separated us to ask questions of a more intimate nature. Although she appeared to be trying to trip us up, my wife and I were confident we were doing well.

 

Relief soon led to anxiety, though, as the interviewer began to criticize the notarized translations of my wife's birth and marriage certificates. She claimed that the translator was in error because, in the English, the translator failed to reverse the order of my wife's name (in other words, she insisted the translator should have presented the surname last in the translation as we do in the English). All reasonable efforts failed to convince our dear public servant otherwise and we departed without having passed the interview.

 

Our quest now is to find someone here in the US who can provide an acceptable notarized translation of these two documents. Any advice?

 

Thank you in advance,

Andrew

[frank1538]

Relief soon led to anxiety, though, as the interviewer began to criticize the notarized translations of my wife's birth and marriage certificates. She claimed that the translator was in error because, in the English, the translator failed to reverse the order of my wife's name (in other words, she insisted the translator should have presented the surname last in the translation as we do in the English). All reasonable efforts failed to convince our dear public servant otherwise and we departed without having passed the interview.

Pardon my French, but this is pure T bullshit. I can't believe the interviewer would be so stupid as to claim this as a basis for an erroneous translation. I'm sure you tried everything, but sometimes, logic, reasoning, common sense, and even the law will not convince an idiot.

 

As to conforming the documents to this idiot's notion of a proper translation, there are numerous services out there that will do it. I believe anyone who is competent can translate the document and certify that the translation is in conformity with the original. I just wonder if someone would be able to certify the translation as in "comformity" if the names are reversed.

 

Do you have a return date?

[Trigg]

Andrew, you have been F#@%*#d over. It looks like you hurt her feelings when you showed her you knew more about what is required than she did. Get the translations corrected-a local college with chinese students and a notary may be the place. Do you have to go back or just mail it in?? Mailing things in is just a formality but it is usual for the same Immigration officer to handle the case so be sure the changes requested are made.

 

As usual inconsistency rules supreme within the UCIS. It is not because they don't have rules and guidlines. Rather it is becasue the immigration officers are allowed to make there own rules as they see fit. This was confirmed to me by a supervisor at UCIS who stated 'the IO may, at their descretion, ask for any evidence presented in any manor they chose and may waive any requirements or add to any requirements they wish'.

 

Good luck, sounds like a minor snag that will resolve with minor paperwork and let you enjoy being free from them even more when you are done.

[Yuanyang]

Do those people not have anything better to do than act as little demi-gods and screw people over? How pathetic a life.

[zeno001]

Pathetic it certainly is! The interviewer left us with a terse explanation that she would send us a notice requesting another notarized translation and, "if everything else is in order," we would not have to return for another interview. With respect to the "", I can only pray that in the meanwhile she does not intend to carefully scrutinize every document in the file with a magnifying glass in the hope of discovering more so-called discrepencies.

 

In any case, if the qualification to translate the documents is simply a command of both Chinese and English, it should not be too hard to find someone. Otherwise, it may be somewhat difficult. I will hold off until we receive the notice.

 

Thank you all for your prompt reply,

Andrew

[tywy_99]

Sorry about the way the interview turned out, Andrew. Those people don't seem to care at all.

My wife arrived November 2003 too. After applying 18 months ago for AOS, we finally got an interview on July 12.

Tomorrow, Friday 17, I'm taking my wife, or rather, she's taking me (because she loves to drive) to the designated doctor for whatever it is she needs.

We've been waiting for so long, we are now like an old married couple. Hell, she owns a house with land. She has her DL, SSN and we just applied for a second EAD. What more do they want!!..........

 

I hope you get that snafu squared away soon!......

[johnxiaoying]

It's incredible the interviewer pulled this crap on you. You should complain to your representatives in DC. I imagine the expense in the U.S. for these translations would be significant.

 

I just looked over my wife's certified translations and the marriage translation and her name is still in the Chinese format, and so is my name!

 

If this should happen in our case I would loudly be demanding to see the supervisor.

 

The fees we pay and the holes they have us U.S. citizens jumping through while our borders remain open to drug runners and murderers to enter unimpeded and without fees!

 

Good luck!

[frank1538]

I just looked over my wife's certified translations and the marriage translation and her name is still in the Chinese format, and so is my name!

I'd go so far as to say that 99% of our SO's translated documents are in that same format.

[Yuanyang]

I just looked over my wife's certified translations and the marriage translation and her name is still in the Chinese format, and so is my name!

I'd go so far as to say that 99% of our SO's translated documents are in that same format.

Just checked ours. They are in that format.

What pi$$e$ me off is that even the newspapers print the names of Chinese people in the "Chinese" format.

[Trigg]

Mine are Chinese format

[cosmiclobster]

Another innocent citizen %#&@%$^#& over!!!

The good news is that you can overcome this BS pretty easily.

Send in another translation and if they still hassle you, get a supervisor on the phone and scream bloody murder~!~!~!