April 2023: Green Card Applications: USCIS Removes the 60-Day Rule for Medical Examinations

Update Applicable to:
All employers with immigrant employees who wish to become permanent residents.

What happened?
On March 31, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had removed the requirement that a civil surgeon’s signature on Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, be dated no more than sixty days before the date USCIS accepts it. Pursuant to this policy change, USCIS will now be able to adjudicate cases marked as invalid due to a Form I-693 signed more than sixty days before filing.

What are the details?
Form I-693 is required for applicants seeking to adjust their status from within the United States to become lawful permanent residents. The form is signed by a civil surgeon following a medical examination to establish that an applicant is not inadmissible to the United States on public health grounds. Before the policy change, a completed Form I-693 remained valid for two years following the date the civil surgeon signed the form, so long as the Form I-693 was signed by the civil surgeon no more than sixty days before the adjustment of status application was submitted. This was commonly referred to as the “sixty-day rule.”

Under the prior requirement, USCIS would have issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for an otherwise valid Form I-693 signed more than sixty days before filing the adjustment of status application. Following a consensus among stakeholders that the rule created confusion and delays, USCIS has permanently removed this requirement.

USCIS encourages applicants to submit completed medical examinations close to filing the Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, because the Form I-693 is still valid for only two years from the date of the civil surgeon’s signature. If USCIS has not adjudicated the Form I-485 within two years, applicants will receive an RFE for a new Form I-693.

For more information, please see the links below:

USCIS Announcement

Article 1 – Article 2

What do employers need to do?
Employers should notify their immigrant employees of this update and encourage them to submit their completed medical examinations close to filing the Form I-485.