The COVID vaccine is now a required part of the immigration process to receive your green card.

“What if I don’t want to have the COVID vaccine? What are my options?”

As part of the process to receive your green card, an individual has to receive a medical exam. This is completed by a civil surgeon and part of that medical exam is administering vaccines to the individual.

Vaccines, as part of the immigration process, are not something new. We have polio, tetanus, and a lot of other vaccines that have always been required as part of the process to receive your green card. The COVID vaccine has just now been added to that list.

There are a few exceptions. There are waivers for certain individuals so they don’t have to receive the COVID vaccine. “If I just don’t want to receive it, can I apply for the waiver?” No, it doesn’t work that way. The waivers that are available are for religious and moral reasons.

It’s a pretty complex process to ask for this waiver. It has to be supported with evidence that because of a moral or a religious conviction, you are asking for a waiver of that requirement.

Another reason that an individual might not have to receive the COVID vaccine is for individuals where it’s not age-appropriate. Children under the age of 14, for example, or individuals who would have a contraindication or in layman’s terms, have an adverse effect to receiving the COVID vaccine.

Lastly, if you happen to live in a country or an area where the COVID vaccine isn’t readily available, then the civil surgeon could decide there isn’t a vaccine available for this individual. It would hold the process up too much and in that case, that person wouldn’t have to receive the COVID vaccine.