Beginning today, August 12, 2021, USCIS is temporarily extending the validity period for Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, due to COVID-19-related delays in processing. The form, which was previously valid for two (2) years, will temporarily be valid for four (4) in cases where a decision on the applicant’s Form I-485 is issued on or before Sept. 30, 2021.
Under the new guidance, USCIS may consider a completed Form I-693 as valid if:
The civil surgeon’s signature is dated no more than 60 days before the applicant filed Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status;
No more than four years have passed since the date of the civil surgeon’s signature; and
A decision on the applicant’s Form I-485 is issued on or before Sept. 30, 2021.
USCIS has experienced operational and processing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic which have resulted in long-pending I-485 Applications causing the Medical Examination Results to expire prior to adjudication. The new, temporary rule, is a result of USCIS’s efforts to “prioritize employment-based adjustment of status applications”. The Agency indicates it’s on track to approve more employment-based adjustment of status applications than it has since FY 2005 and will “continue to make processing and resource allocation decisions to increase the pace of adjudications and limit the potential for employment-based visa numbers to go unused.”