Part of the immigration process for individuals who are applying to receive their green card is a medical exam. During that medical exam, the civil surgeon will determine what vaccinations are required. These two are part of the requirements for receiving a green card.

Many people are asking which vaccinations are required, what to take to the medical exam, what to do if there’s no vaccination record and what can I expect.

The medical exam is administered by a doctor who’s been appointed by immigration to complete the exam. Those doctors are referred to as civil surgeons. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is the organization that determines what the vaccination requirements are based on what is happening in the world.

Read: New Vaccination Criteria for US Immigration

The civil surgeon will be using those CDC requirements to determine what vaccinations they need. That is determined by a person’s age and whether or not they’ve had vaccinations in the past. If you have your vaccination records, bring those with you to the medical exam.

But if you don’t have them, don’t panic. The civil surgeon will determine what you need. They can perform a blood test to determine whether or not you have antibodies in your system. They can make a judgment about what vaccinations you’ll need based on that.

Also, with the CDC requirements, the civil surgeon will determine based on your age, your immunology the vaccinations to administer for the medical exam.

Another important thing people ask, “Should I go to my family doctor? Should I get all my vaccinations beforehand? Will that help speed up the process?” No, it’s not required.

It’s much more efficient to let the civil surgeon take care of everything at your medical exam. If you really feel compelled that you want to go to your family doctor to get your vaccination records, that would be great. But there isn’t a requirement that you get any vaccinations before the medical exam. The civil surgeon will take care of all of that.

For K1 applicants, you also have a medical exam abroad before you receive your fiancé visa. Something unique to K1 fiancé visa applicants is that you aren’t required to receive your vaccinations before entering the United States.

However, at the medical exam, the civil surgeon will give you the option to receive your vaccinations at that appointment. We highly recommend that you accept. Typically, it’s cheaper to have them done at that medical exam. Another great reason is that it’s going to save you time.

You’re going to be entering the United States on your fiancé visa. You have 90 days to get married and then file your green card application. You have a lot of things to do and so, it would be great to not have another medical exam and have vaccinations done in the US.

If during that medical exam they’ll offer to give you the vaccinations you need, it is ideal to receive those vaccinations.