Help Please! Vaccines and Immigration Question

[new2texas]

My husband is applying for a Green Card. We live in the US, he is here right now on a Visa. He has to get a medical exam to submit with the application, including vaccines which he hasn't already had. He was born in the 70's and so had the standard vaccines back then, however there are many many others on the CDC's list that he hasn't had. According to the info I can find they changed the rules in 2009 and now there are no exemptions that can be filed, you basically have to get them. Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of this process? Is there any way around it? Surely they can't actually give vaccines like rotavirus and Hib to a grown man? The whole thought of this is making me sick, there are probably 9 different shots that he'll have to get. Any help or advice appreciated. The appointment is in 3 days so I don't have a lot of time to figure this out.

[nia82]

No, they only require age appropriate vaccines. For a 20-35 year old that entailed in 2006 (when I went through the process): DT, MMR, chickenpox. I had gotten OPV as a kid, I don't know if that counted. But HiB and such is for kids only. Contact a civil surgeon in your area to learn more, but be careful, since this medical is out of pocket, many will try to scam you and give you a ton of shots that you get cheaper at the health department or your normal doc even.
There is a waiver for religious reasons only, I have no idea if it ever gets approved.

[MattBronsil]

I'm for vaccines, but don't like the idea of forced medicine at all. Is it going to be a conscious problem filing under religious grounds if that IS an option? How do they prove that? (Asking out of ignorance)

[nia82]

Good point PP, I didn't even want to try. Nor did I care back then. The process is tough and annoying as it is. They also want you to have a TB test. Maybe OP you can ask for a quantiferon blood test instead of a skin test. Such a pain and then you have to come back, yikes.

[lookatreestar]

i know last year when MIL, and both BILs came they had to get a bunch of shots, i felt so bad!

[nia82]

Oh they do btw accept foreing shot records and titers. Like my records showed I had mumps (the disease) in 91, a rubella as a shot in 94 and measles shot in 83. They were fine with that and didn't want another MMR. I actually had gotten an MMR but didn't bring that record.
The treatment you get from the doc depends very much on the individual. I had a friendly lady in NH back then. I have heard bad stories though from all over the country, as well as good ones. Don't be discouraged. The medical itself was just presenting my records, checking my ears and throat for a cold and getting blood drawn for the STD tests (HIV and Syph I think).

[bubbamummy]

My friends mom is an immigration officer and I will ask her how to get around it. I remember her saying there was a way.

They forced me (an English girl) to get tons of shots even though I was breastfeeding at the time. They made me get Gardasil, MMR (even though id already had it) the adult DTaP (even though id had the complete DTP series as a child) and some others. It was awful. My English doctor was absolutely gob smacked that they'd forced me to get them all.

They said 'Do you want to be able to go with your husband' (he is military) and I said 'well, yes' and they told me 'well get the shots then' The whole experience was awful and humiliating. They made me wait in a hospital gown for a chest x-ray (to prove I didnt have TB even though a US military doctor had deemed me immune) while breastmilk ran down my front and arms as they wouldnt let me bring my nursling with me. it was truly a terrible time. Thats why when people say 'why dont they JUST get a Green Card' I get fierce ...but that's a whole 'nother topic I will ask my friends mom and get back to you.

[EVC]

My dh got his green card about 5 years ago--he just presented his childhood vax records and they didn't require anything else of him (and he is FAR from up to date). So maybe it's not so stringent?

He did have to get a chest x-ray and HIV test, though.

[nia82]

The medical abroad is much more stringent than if you do it in the US. Abroad, they do a full medical exam of your body, want a chest xray (in the US only the tb skin test is required, no xray at all), and push vaccines that you already had and try to ignore the shots you had. It is MUCH easier to go through the medical here.

[EVC]

I guess it depends on the country then. Dh's medical exam was abroad and it was pretty easy

[nia82]

Yes, it depends, but the chest xray is mandatory in all countries. Most people I know, duh, are Germans, and their shots were accepted and all, but they still got a full examination and had to get the chest xray. You have to hand that in at the airport upon arrival with your K1 visa. I know other countries can get pretty nasty! And it depends on the doctors, just like here, I got a good one in NH back then while friends in Maryland had a horror trip with theirs! (I was here working already, so I could do the easy peasy medical and got around the xray, yikes).

Anyways, OP, insist on his shot record, they cannot deny it, and being informed and educated is key! I wanted to add when I went through the process, Gardasil wasn't on the list. I don't know if it is now required for men also? I forget. Dr. Google should know... There are several forums out there just for family immigration, they know.

[LessTraveledBy]

Originally Posted by EVC

My dh got his green card about 5 years ago--he just presented his childhood vax records and they didn't require anything else of him (and he is FAR from up to date). So maybe it's not so stringent?

He did have to get a chest x-ray and HIV test, though.

This was exactly my experience, also, 7 years ago, going through the process abroad.

I am still mad about the x-ray, actually. We have like no TB here... I have better chances of getting it in the US than here. (We moved back some time after I had got the green card.)

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

dh had a few vaxes for his greencard+the xray, he was unvaxed, shortly after he developed eczema, so just because he's an adult, don't think he may not have a reaction/side effects. (this was well before our anti-vax stance)

[MissE]

Originally Posted by nia82

The medical abroad is much more stringent than if you do it in the US. Abroad, they do a full medical exam of your body, want a chest xray (in the US only the tb skin test is required, no xray at all), and push vaccines that you already had and try to ignore the shots you had. It is MUCH easier to go through the medical here.

That depends on the doctor you chose though. I went in Munich and brought my childhood shot record, as well as a titer record that I had done beforehand. I didn't need any other shots. They did a blood test, a chest XRAY and that was about it.

I didn't have to have another medical in the US since I was done after that. Cost for my medical in Germany was about 120 Euros (about 170 bucks).

EDIT: The xray picture now comes on a CD so you don't have to lug that big picture with you. I have never heard of a person who had to present it at the point of immigration. I think I burned mine a few years ago.

[ASusan]

Be aware that some countries do a TB vaccine (in childhood, usually) that shows up as a positive on TB testing (the skin test, I think). DH is from a former British colony that did/does this vax, and when he immigrated here, the TB test was positive. He knew this would happen, so he was able to avoid the treatment.

My friend's daughter, adopted from Peru as an infant, tested positive for TB when she was 16 (had to have the TB test to work with a child population). The doctors put her on months of antibiotic, and I don't think she was able to take the job. DH thinks she probably had the same vaccine that he did, but her mom didn't look into it.

[nia82]

It's the BCG and usually causes a positive skin test for about 18-20 years after you get. I had it when I was one day old (all former Soviet occupied countries had it mandatory for newborns). I didn't have a reaction on the skin test. My best high school friend was an Au Pair when we were 18 in NJ. One of her friends was "East"-German too and caught a cold. The doctors performed a skin test (why escapes my logic to the day!) and she turned out positive. They notified immigration about this too. She was told to either do the hardcore antibiotics or leave the country. They refused further testing, did not accept her shot record that stated she had the shot as a baby and so on... It was annoying. My friend didn't go to a doc when she got sick, she was way too scared!

@ MissE: I don't think the German docs are a problem with shot records.. I have heard it in other countries though... I'm glad I got around the xray! My SIL did the medical in SFO with no troubles, while her friend who got a K1 back in Bratislava had a horrible medical. They even checked her out with a speculum and a breast exam. She felt quite "molested". Poor thing, at least her K1 was quick.

[new2texas]

So a little update here, he had the appointment and only had to get MMR and tetanus. His tetanus was actually up to date but we didn't have the paper work to prove it. The rest were marked as not being age appropriate, and the he didn't have to get the flu shot because it's apparently not flu season. He did have to do the skin TB test too. All in all it went much better than I expected but he did feel lousy for a couple days afterward.