It’s always been valid for two years after the surgeon’s signature date. However, there’s also a limitation that they have to receive it within 60 days of that same date signed on the form. They temporarily waived the rules on the 60 days due to Covid, but waiving of that is going to be good till end of this month, which is pretty much in the next couple days. That’s probably why. Send in the sealed form immediately with a copy of the RFE notice and hope they receive it before waiver ends and accept as it is, is probably what I would do. I’d also contact the surgeon and see what they’re willing to do about switching to new form according to your completed document without cost or at least part of it. Good luck.

same thing happened to me . I had to repeat the medical examination with new version because they never called me for interview . then they asked me to send medical form with new version

@@S L the waiver ended March 23, 2023

@favor me Talking about different things… What ended on the 23rd was the extension of due date for the RFE, not the extension on the temporary waiver! Double check before correcting, It’s March 31 2023, second alert in the following webpage. https://www.uscis.gov/i-693

@S L thanks for the reference. I always assume that the 60 days limit is with respect to the i485 filing date, but not when they received the medical exam. Am I wrong? I did my medical in November, and still waiting for RFE :/ sorry, I got a little worried about it.

@j castro There’s nothing for you to apologize for! I understand your concern and I would doubt too if I were you. I’m not a legal expert, what I do is gathering as much information as I could and make judgments for myself that make the most sense. Tbh, USCIS is not very clear on that indeed! Neither are they making same judgement on every cases with exact same standards, in my opinion, in which make sense because it’s operated by people and people make different choices. I wondered about the same thing too, it stated about the initial pd and signature no more than 60 days prior to that submission date. However, it tells you in the instructions you don’t need to submit right away! But again instructed you that you should submit as close to you I-485 submission date as possible. When one gets a notice of deficiency letter, it tells you not to do anything until you receive RFE or further instructions. Many attorneys tell their clients not to submit it with the original I-485 and did not explain well the reasons behind. Most likely because it’s valid for two years and cases might take longer before USCIS gets to it and ask for another medical examination. (And possibly the 60 days rule thing as well, so that when one gets the RFE or interview notice, they start the process for I-693, and respond within reasonable time, it usually wouldn’t go further than 60 days. ) It’s simple for people who submit with the initial I-485 and people who have not submit their I-693 with the initial I-485 but waited to do it after they get their RFE/interview scheduled to decide what to do. However, it’s a bit more complicated for people like you, who didn’t submit with initial I-485 case, but got it ready thinking you wanted to be prepared when the interview or RFE notice comes. I totally get it. I would do the same if I didn’t send it with the packet initially. But I’d wondered back then why it was that you could (and they encouraged it) but then you don’t have to submit initially. And that’s when I learned the above information and more including the temporary waiver and the extension of it for the 60 days rule. To me, it doesn’t make sense they have a 60 days rule on initial submission, but not if you don’t submit initially with your I-485. Now it comes to you wondering what to do because you’re in this situation where either you send in without RFE right away may cause it got lost somewhere and USCIS asks you for it, OR… you wait for RFE/interview but it’s passed the 60 days or even 2 years validity period. Either way there’s a chance that you could be asked to do it again. I don’t think there’s right or wrong with what to do: send it in now or wait for RFE later. It depends on how comfortable are you after knowing the details and knowing the risks of each. You might not have problems doing either way. But a few things that I would probably do just on the safe side or I think might help: 1. Double check with your surgeon, find out your options and expect if you need to pay for full for the worst case scenario: redo it again. Or you’re lucky that the surgeon is nice to charge you less or nothing for a new dated form. I don’t know how they work, but I would want to know if that’s possible. 2. If you decide to send it right away (before the waiver expires), make sure to include a copy of the notice for I-485, AND a cover letter explaining why you’re sending it now. I would also upload everything you mailed in to the online account, if you have one, as unsolicited evidence. But make sure you are uploading the copy of I-693 that the surgeon gave you, NOT the sealed form, as you can’t open it anyway. 3. Wait for the RFE or interview and include a cover letter or in person explaining why you have it done earlier. I guess there’s also the option of upload it as unsolicited evidence (before the expiration date of the 60 days rule waiver), and hold onto the original sealed envelope for later when you’re instructed to send in or bring it with. I think none of these would hurt, they’re your effort to try to provide as much information as you can for your case. Don’t panic, make a choice and be at peace with it. What may come next is not what any of us could control so sort it out when it comes, and don’t stress yourself before it happens. I know you didn’t ask for this much, but just sharing my thoughts, you have to make the call on what to do after all! Hope this help and good luck to you!!

@Dalila F. same problem here .. doctor by mistake filled old version of 21 edition and we submitted in august 2022.. I got medical difficiency

@S L thanks for your words. Your post was very informative. Lucky for many us who “try” to plan the medical exam, it seems UCSIS is removing the 60 days rule permanently starting today https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-updates/20230331-I-693FilingReqt.pdf Thanks y’all for the post. Hadn’t I read this post, I wouldn’t have realized my medical exam has the old edition, and it was signed in November 😫Already reached out to the doctor to re-transcript the medical exam to the new form. Good luck with your applications, hoping they all get approve soon.

thank you guys!! so helpful.. I ended up repaying and repeating the medical exam. thankfully I didn’t have to repeat any vaccinations. I hope to get the lab results soon so I can submit the envelope once and for all.

@j castro Dang! You mean I didn’t have to type out all those long explanation in the first place???!!! 😉😉😉 haha That’s great news, thanks for sharing this with us. I think they finally realized how much applicants are suffering from its confusing nature of the rule. It would be nice that they actually announce it earlier because some people already brought up the same issue in the past month, and I’d tried to post many times. I hope they get to see this new update as well to release some of their stress. @Dalila F. Sorry that you had to go through that… hope it goes well from here on.

@S L hahaha the long response, which I appreciated very much, just shows the frustration we all go through during the application process. all the confusing, rules that barely make sense, backlogs, having people wait for years to visit their home country and their families. This is definitely an improvement (one that I’m very happy and relief with), and I hope there are more on their way. Cheers for all the unnecessary pain, and hope all goes well.