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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawHow Administrative Processing Can Affect Medical Exam Validity

How Administrative Processing Can Affect Medical Exam Validity

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing medical examinations specifically in the context of what is called Administrative Processing and a 221-g request and refusal. 

Basically a 221-g refusal is a refusal by an Embassy to issue a visa pending further documentation is the best way to look at it. It is very similar to a Request for Evidence, or RFE, issued by the Department of Homeland Security.

In a circumstance where a 221-g may take a while to go ahead and respond or a case may get locked into what is called Administrative Processing which is sort of a catch-all term that is utilized by Embassies abroad to go ahead and provide further review and scrutiny of a given case file, to do further background checks, perhaps even if a matter has fallen into the fraud prevention unit, Administrative Processing is sort of a catch-all term for all of these. If Administrative Processing takes a prolonged period of time, it can have an adverse impact on the validity of the medical exam. What am I talking about?  Well a medical exam only has a certain period of validity.  That may be different depending on the given post.  Here in Thailand generally speaking you want to go ahead and have the medical exam issued with at least 6 months validity at the time you go in for an interview and generally speaking that is sort of the optimal amount of time. Much past 6 months, if your medical exam was taken six months ago, that is a problem.  But if you take a new medical exam, it is usually going to provide validity of the issue of eligibility on health grounds for a 6 month period. So basically, if multiple months go by in Administrative Processing, you are going to go ahead and possibly also have to deal with an addendum to the 221-g, a request for a new medical exam. We have seen this happen in more complicated cases especially those cases that involve things like I-601 waivers.

But that being said, it's something to keep in mind with respect to Administrative Processing, the fact that it might be required at the end of that process to go ahead and get another medical exam issued on top of everything else.