Civil Surgeon - I-693 sealed envelope?

[Rob and Patty 2]

Hi all, been a few months since I posted. My wife came over on a K1 visa, we did not have to get any vaccinations at her medical in CD Juarez.

We are now filing for AOS after getting married, so we took page 1 and page 5 of form I693 to a civil surgeon (we did not get DS3025 since we had no vaccination history)

So the civil surgeon we went to was fine with doing the vaccinations and signing off on them, but the nurse/admin was extremely disorganised. She made us re-do our form by hand after half filling out a new one herself. Some of the fields she re-did, she did not fill in capitals. Our 'sealed' envelope, is a brown envelope with one strip of scotch tape applied over the envelope and the words written by hand "USCIS, Do Not Open"

Now, is that sufficient for a sealed envelope?? I have severe doubts about this. I am also tempted to have the form filled out again and take it back to be re signed by the civil surgeon. Any advice?

[Alex&Manny 16]

As for the way it is filled out - that's up to you how comfortable you feel on how much they did. We went to one doctor who was going to half as* the form and wasn't going to fill it out - in my opinion - to the best of his abilities (and he was charging us a ridiculous amount!) so I decided to go elsewhere.

They gave me a copy of what was filled out and the envelope she gave me was a white envelope with the offices' ink stamp on the front (nothing fancy) it also said USCIS ONLY DO NOT OPEN (written by hand). On the back side she sealed the envelope properly (you know by licking it ) and along the seal the nurse signed it and put the date, that way if opened, it would be obvious.

I was content with her work and they didn't charge an arm and a leg, so we were very happy to say the least.

I think you'll be fine. Just don't mess with it.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Alex&Manny

[Rob and Patty 2]

One thing I forgot to mention... As we were leaving, she called us back because she had forggoten to put the originals in the envelope... So she opened it up, swapped out the copies for the originals, then closed the envelope with the same tape. So of course, the signature is slgihtly mismatched... Very sloppy.

I think I will probably return to the office and provide them with a real envelope and ask them to sign the paperwork again. (The one they used had those metal prongs in the middle that you bend to close the envelope with no adhesive).

We got charged an arm and a leg by the way. Was $230 which covered the civil servant cost, MMR vaccination, tDap and a flu shot. Which they also were not going to give us the flu shot until I convinced them it was necessary. Everyone is always so clueless about this stuff

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

Ours was just placed into a regular envelope, sealed and handwritten on it to not open, or something to that effect. I do not think the envelope and the way the office seals it is an issue. You have a right to, and should have been given a copy of the filled out form anyway. It is not like you do not know what the form says. If they did a bad job filling out, then you should have them re-do it properly because it being filled out and signed properly is the most important part.

[Rob and Patty 2]

Thanks, I feel a little bit better about the envelope at least... Another concern I have (They just seemed extremely unprofessional and carefree) is which vaccinations are required?

We had 0 vaccination history, so the Dr told us all that was needed was tdap and MMR. I convinced him to do a flu shot too since it is flu season. Everything else in the list, he put an X under 'Not age appropriate'. Is that the right/normal thing to do? Or should there have been an X in 'Completed series?'

I just want to make sure we have this 100% right. I have gotten this far without an RFE, hoping we can make it all the way to the end without getting one

[Rob and Patty 2]

In fact, the more I look at this form, the more convinced I am that the Civil surgeon we went to has completely fluffed it. On page 5 of I-693 he checked the box 'Vaccine history complete for each vaccine, all requirements met' yet the box he checked for everything else as being 'Not age appropriate' was under 'Waivers to be requested from USCIS.' So in that case, he should have checked 'Applicant may be eligible for blanket waiver as indicated above'

Arght this is so frustrating!

Do you think a different Civil surgeon would transcribe the details and fill out the form correctly? At this point I have 0 faith in this civil surgeon we went to, I feel like we were robbed...

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

You can either ask them to re-do it properly, or find another one that will not charge too much for the vaccination transcription and will fill out the form how it needs to be done and sign off on it. The only vaccinations required for AOS are: MMR, Tdap or TD, varicella(unless you had the chickenpox), and the flu shot during flu season.

[Rob and Patty 2]

Well, we went back today and the clueless assistant/nurse screwed up the paperwork a few more times before we got it right and the Dr had an attitude with us, like we were wasting his time or something. Varicella was marked as VH.

All done now, the only oddity is that the vaccination page is dated 01/07/12 and the form is dated and signed 01/08/12. Hopefully that will not be an issue. Thanks for the helpful comments guys.

[little_dreamer 11]

ours was a white envelope....sealed and said USCIS DO NOT OPEN and tape and squiggly lines over the sealed part.....so if someone who is not supposed to tries to open it they would be able to tell lol but she sure got fancy with all the squiggles hahaa

[luis_bici_ 4]

The purpose of a sealed envelope is so that the recipient knows that no one has tampered with its contents since it left the sender. We're in the application phase, so maybe I'm wrong, but if there is any appearance of tampering, I would request that it be redone if necessary and then resealed properly. That office sounds like a bunch of ____; I would let USCIS know.