Green Card Adjustment Application Updates - Medicals & Interviews
1. USCIS Increasingly Waiving AOS Interview
Green card adjustment of status (AOS) applications generally require an interview with a USCIS officer at the end of the process, e.g. in family-based cases where the sponsor and the applicant are questioned by a USCIS officer.
In an effort to work through its I-485 adjustment application backlog, in the past few months USCIS has been waiving the interview requirement in many cases.
The agency has been increasingly waiving this requirement in adjustment applications based on marriage to a U.S. citizen.
2. Applicants Should Include Medical With Initial AOS Filing
Because USCIS is now waiving the interview requirement in many cases, it is now recommending that AOS applicants provide the required I-693 medical exam reports with the initial I-485 application filing.
In the past, because adjustment applications were pending beyond the validity period of the I-693 medical exam, many applicants took advantage of the option to submit the medical exam report after the initial filing of the adjustment application. In this scenario, applicants would bring the I-693 form to their interview.
By recommending that applicants include their I-693 medical forms in the initial I-485 adjustment filing, USCIS seems to be signaling that it will continue to waive the interview requirement in the near future, where applicable.
3. Check Your Inbox For An Email From USCIS!
Applicants who did not submit a I-693 medical exam with their initial adjustment application need to monitor their email.
Within the past few days, USCIS has begun emailing applicants (not their attorneys) requesting them to mail in their medical exams to the local office adjudicating the application. (Previously, USCIS would mail a notice to the applicant and their attorney.)
Receiving such a request is a good indication that USCIS is waiving the interview.
Individuals who receive such requests (either by email or mail) should submit the I-693 exam as soon as possible. In many cases, USCIS approves the adjustment application shortly after receipt of the medical exam.
4. Sixty-Day Sign & File Rule Back In Force Soon
On a related note, the waiver of the requirement that a civil surgeon sign the I-693 medical exam no more than 60 days before a person files their I-485 adjustment application ends March 31, 2023.
Unless USCIS extends this waiver, applicants will again need to be aware of the date the physician signs their I-693 form, and ensure that their I-485 application is filed within 60 days of that date.