Designated Civil Surgeons

Depending on the immigration benefit an alien seeks, they may need to complete an immigration medical examination. Immigration medical examinations for aliens inside the United States must be performed by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon. Immigration medical examinations for aliens outside the United States must be performed by a panel physician who is authorized by the Department of State. For more information on the immigration medical examination, see Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, and USCIS Policy Manual Guidance on Health-Related Grounds of Inadmissibility.

How to Become a Civil Surgeon

If you are interested in becoming a civil surgeon, you must apply using Form I-910, Application for Civil Surgeon Designation. For more information on civil surgeon designation, see USCIS Policy Manual Civil Surgeon Guidance.

Blanket Civil Surgeon Designation

Certain physicians may not need to apply for civil surgeon designation if they fall under a limited number of blanket designations. For more information, see USCIS Policy Manual Blanket Civil Surgeon Designation Guidance.

Civil Surgeons’ Responsibilities: Technical Instructions

Civil surgeons must perform the immigration medical examination according to the statute, regulations, and Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These Technical Instructions include instructions on the required parts of the immigration medical examination and answers to common questions about the examination process.

The civil surgeon is responsible for getting these instructions online and meeting the requirements of the Technical Instructions.

If a civil surgeon does not follow the Technical Instructions, we may revoke the civil surgeon’s designation. USCIS may also revoke designation if the civil surgeon engages in fraud or unprofessional or unethical conduct. For more information on grounds to revoke the civil surgeon designation, see the USCIS Policy Manual Civil Surgeon Guidance.

For more information and a full list of civil surgeons’ responsibilities, see the instructions to Form I-910, Form I-693,  the USCIS Policy Manual Civil Surgeon Guidance, the Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons, and USCIS Policy Manual Form I-693 and Health-Related Grounds of Inadmissibility.

Telemedicine

According to the CDC, civil surgeons cannot perform an immigration medical examination using telemedicine. Civil surgeons must conduct the physical examination in person. For more information, please see the Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons.

eMedical

Civil surgeons must register for access to eMedical, an electronic health processing system. Using eMedical will help the CDC maintain public health security and transition to electronic submission of immigration medical examinations. If you are a civil surgeon, you should have received emailed instructions to register; it is important that you follow these instructions and register immediately.

New civil surgeons will get access to eMedical shortly after we approve your Form I-910. After your account is created, eMedical will email instructions to the email address you gave us.

If you did not receive the emails with instructions from the CDC and eMedical, please email [email protected].

If you do not register for eMedical, we consider this failing to follow the Technical Instructions, and we may revoke your civil surgeon’s designation.

The CDC civil surgeon resource website has tutorials on eMedical account creation and submitting a report in eMedical. Please review the materials here before sending questions about login or submission difficulties.

Other resources include:

• CDC’s Tuberculosis Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons
• Link to eMedical 

Educational Materials for Civil Surgeons

We coordinate with the CDC to provide regular instruction on how to perform the immigration medical examination according to the technical instructions and regulations and correctly record the results of the exam on Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.

If you are not registered with USCIS to receive civil surgeon updates, you should register through the USCIS Get Email Updates webpage. Please ensure our emails are not caught in your spam filter or diverted to your junk email folder.

To register for updates:

1. Go to the USCIS Get Email Updates webpage.
2. Type in your email address and click Submit.
3. Under Outreach, check the box for Civil Surgeons.
4. Click Save.

Additionally, USCIS’ Office of Policy and Strategy sends updates about Form I-693 and civil surgeon designation. We send these to the email address you provide when you apply for civil surgeon designation.  If you would like to ensure we have your email address, or if you want to add or change the email address, please email [email protected].

Vaccination Requirements

• Vaccination Requirements

Questions and Updates

For currently designated civil surgeons:

Find a Civil Surgeon

A public list of designated civil surgeons is available online through the Find a Civil Surgeon webpage.

To keep the public list of civil surgeons accurate and up-to-date, civil surgeons must notify us within 15 days of any change relevant to their civil surgeon designation, including if:

• They stop practicing medicine;
• They stop performing immigration medical examinations in the state where they are designated;
• Their medical license is restricted;
• They are subject to any disciplinary action;
• Their contact information changes (including the name of office, address, telephone number, fax number, or email address), or
• They would like to add new office locations.

To notify us about these changes, email [email protected].