Client Alert!
Effective immediately, CDC has removed from the technical instructions to panel physicians the requirement that immigrant visa applicants receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Panel physicians will no longer determine that an immigrant visa applicant is ineligible for travel based on their failure to receive, or otherwise document, their vaccination against COVID-19. Based on CDC’s updated guidance to panel physicians, U.S. embassies and consulates will no longer refuse an immigrant visa application for failure to present documentation that they received the COVID-19 vaccination. Applicants whose medical exams are unexpired and otherwise still valid for travel to the United States, and whom a consular officer previously found ineligible based solely on the applicant’s failure to establish vaccination against COVID-19, may have a new medical exam issued by the panel physician without a fee. To request this, impacted applicants should reach out to the U.S. embassy or consulate at which they executed their application for an immigrant visa.
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