On Tuesday, the President made it clear on a Spanish language TV network Univision that once the fiscal crisis is resolved, the immigration reform issue would become a top priority. Immigration reform has been sidetracked as the issues of Syria, the government shutdown and debt default had become a priority.
The President’s re-election was largely supported by Hispanic voters who demand immigration reform for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.
The immigration reform bill was passed in the Senate with an overwhelming majority of 68-32; however, the House of Representatives with a Republican majority simply denied taking it up. The Republican majority is working on its own version of the immigration reform bill which does not include a path to citizenship for the undocumented. In addition, they demand a piecemeal approach to passing immigration reform with increased border security as the priority.
President Barack Obama blamed the House Speaker John Boehner for not letting immigration reform come up for a vote in the House.
easyIME.com is a free service, which streamlines the immigration medical process for green card aspirants by helping them locate the right USCIS Civil Surgeon and schedule their USCIS immigration medical exam online. Green card aspirants can also find immigration lawyers near their zip code through this service.
Protestors chained themselves to buses and blocked entrance to federal courthouse in Arizona. The protests were held at immigration proceedings in Tucson which were carried out for deportations of illegal immigrants.
Two buses that were on their way to court for immigration cases were stopped for more than four hours from early morning as immigrant rights activists locked themselves to the vehicles. The other six chained themselves at one of the gates at the vehicle entrance at the court. Other demonstrators cheered the chained protestors.
According to ABC news, the 70 detainees remained in the bus throughout the protests. Authorities negotiated with the protest leaders but were compelled to forcibly remove them. The police had to cut the chains and arrest them. The six protestors at the courthouse gates voluntarily removed themselves after finding out the bus protest had come to an end.
The protests were targeted at controversial deportation program Operation Streamline where detainees meet attorneys on the morning of the court proceedings. However, since the detainees were unable to meet with their respective attorneys, the proceedings were cancelled.
Despite shutdown, the courthouse was functioning with reduced functions since the judiciary provides the funding for the operations. The proceedings will be delayed to next week after the federal holiday to decide the fate of the detainees.
On Thursday, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services agents delivered a warning letter to House Republicans specifically Rep Luis Gutierrez, Rep Paul Ryan, Rep Bob Goodlatte and Rep Eric Cantor against passing a bill that is amnesty for the undocumented.
The Council President at USCIS, Kenneth Palinkas, wrote that the House may be on a path that may lead to more obstacles and roadblocks for the USCIS agents to protect the nation’s security and the American Taxpayer. He added that according to media reports Majority leader Eric Cantor, Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Chairman Paul Ryan and Rep. Luis Gutierrez are working on proposals that are likely to open benefits of citizenship to illegal immigrants and expanding other visa programs. He warns that the piecemeal approach of passing a series of separate bills will use the Senate immigration bill as the starting point.
He says passing the bill would affect the way USCIS works which in turn will affect millions of citizenship, visa and green card applications currently under review. This would lead to widespread abuses that may invite disaster.
He believes that USCIS needs to be reformed first before the changes are made to the agency. The agency has been corrupted by politics before any amnesty proposal is brought up in the House.
Finally, he suggested that the taxpayer can be best served by screening new applicants and prevent abuses of immigrant benefits.
easyIME.com is a free service, which streamlines the immigration medical process for green card aspirants by helping them locate the right USCIS Civil Surgeon and schedule their USCIS immigration medical exam online. Green card aspirants can also find immigration lawyers near their zip code through this service.
The US Immigration Medical Exam is mandatory as demanded by the USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as a part of the US immigration process for obtaining a green card or for refugee asylum states or for certain non immigrant visas.
The medical examination is done to ascertain whether the individual is inadmissible to the United States on the grounds of public health and safety or not.
It is conducted by a USCIS approved civil surgeon in the US in the United States. For those applying outside the US, the exam is conducted by a physician on the panel of USCIS called Panel Physician.
The green card aspirant needs to fill the i693 form part of which he needs to fill out himself and the remaining part needs to be filled in the by the civil surgeon during the medical examination.
The cost of the medical examination is not covered by medical insurance. It needs to be borne by the aspirant himself. However, it is advisable to check on it with the insurance provider and the civil surgeon prior to going for the medical exam.
There are 4 stages of the green card medical exam
Stage 1
The first stage includes a check for Tuberculosis. A tuberculin skin test or IGRA test followed by a chest x ray will be done if the applicant tests positive for exposure to tuberculosis in the past.
Stage 2
The next step includes getting tested for Syphilis. Once the test is completed, you will be screened for Gonorrhea and other communicable diseases.
In the second stage, the civil surgeon will check you for any physical or mental disorders that may lead to harmful behavior. This includes checking the aspirant for alcohol abuse and carefully examining the aspirant’s medical history to check for a history of physical disorders that lead to harmful behavior or currently persisting disorders that may lead to harmful behavior in the future.
Stage 3
Stage 3 is where presence of drug abuse or drug addiction is checked. This includes any therapy, rehabilitation or referrals that may have been given to the aspirant in the past.
Stage 4
Finally in the fourth stage, the aspirant is administered a series of vaccines as specified by the CDC, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccines administered are age appropriate. If you have taken any of these vaccines in the past, you need to obtain a certification from your health care provider to present to the civil surgeon during the examination confirming the same. Flu vaccine is given only during the flu season which lasts from October to March.
Following vaccines are administered:
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Influenza
- Influenza type b (Hib)
- Measles
- Meningococcal
- Mumps
- Penumococcal
- Pertussis
- Polio
- Rotavirus
- Rubella
- Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids
- Varicella
The civil surgeon charges separately for vaccination. Each civil surgeon charges differently for the medical examination since the CDC does not have any regulations over the charges. The charges vary depending on the geographical location. The immigration medical exam can cost you anywhere between $200 and $700 depending on where you live.
The tests usually take up 4 to 5 hours easily so it is advisable to take a day off for the medical examination. Some procedures especially the vaccination may need a follow up. You can either take the follow up dose from your civil surgeon or from your usual health care provider.
Once the tests are done, the civil surgeon will fill the i693 form, draft the results and hand them over to you in a sealed envelope. Before the results and the form are sealed, make sure that your name and other details are spelled correctly otherwise the USCIS will instantly reject the results. Make sure the seal is intact and is not tampered with or else it will not be accepted. Deliver the results within a week’s time.
Once you have delivered the results, the USCIS will take time to go through the findings since they have a huge backlog of such results to clear. So, patiently wait for their call.
All the best clearing your Immigration Medical Exam!
