Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) – Divulgence of Medical Exam Reports (24 May 2019)

All immigrant visa applicants are required to submit to a medical examination at the time of an application for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate.

In addition, some applicants for nonimmigrant visas may also be referred for medical screening if a consular officer has reason to believe the applicant may be inadmissible under health-related grounds described in INA§212(a)(1) — especially when the applicant has a criminal record that suggests drug or alcohol misuse.

The results of the medical exam can lead to visa refusal based on INA§212(a)(1) inadmissibility.

A recent modification to the FAM indicates that consular records will not be divulged–by either the consular officer or the panel physician, “but panel physicians may share their own records in the form of lab reports and similar documentation with the applicant upon request.” The instructions of the FAM indicate that neither consular officers nor panel physicians may provide copies of the completed DS medical forms to the applicants or other interested parties because they are visa records and confidential under INA 222(f), but now after the modification of the FAM the panel physicians may share their own records in the form of lab reports and similar documentation with the applicant upon request.

Previously medical records relating to a visa refusal were difficult, if not impossible to obtain. Panel physicians protested that the medical reports were prepared for the U.S. embassy or U.S. consulate and not for the patient and for that reason were not made available to the patient. The new change to the FAM has changed that policy.

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