A step on the ladder of U.S. immigration scale we have in the past year climbed alone the power of our present life: instead of non-resident aliens are we now resident aliens.
This has some advantages - for example, a Resident Alien less tax paid as a non-resident alien if he or she has family (eligible to vote you and I do not still, for the principle of "No Taxation Without Representation has "not the Boston Tea Party long survived)
For the next goal -. Residents without Alien - it is with the stay here is not in itself sufficient more about Resident status will be developed. and not too tight. Without professional nelle help of immigration lawyers have the form of war is to win barely. Moreover, calls for the Immigration Department a number of expert reports, evidence, documents, passport photos and a certified translation. And a health certificate.
we have tested - after almost three years in the country - anything that is contagious or could be. tuberculosis from AIDS, hepatitis A and B and measles by Tuber . This one comes in contact with an institution that calls itself "Civil Surgeon," a certified by the Immigration USCIS Medical Officer. Makes the required blood draws and tests - blood work.
The closest Princeton from Civil Surgeon has his practice in Lawrenceville, a pretty small town. Date agreed, went there - and got shock. practice: a shack in a run-down Strip Mall The furniture, if they exist: scrap. The general state: just about the opposite of sterile. The only wall decorations are signs in several languages, that the fees were due to be paid in cash. No checks, no credit cards.
As we fill in the hall again forms, telling the receptionist on the phone an evocative and with increasing volume to a patient.. "You have syphilis, the test was positive, you have to come back to the doctor, you are ill, you have syphilis! "
In the tiny examination room You can stay as a family of four little without constant overturn or tear down. Even the chairs are sticky. "When I see a single syringe without packaging, we immediately get out of here," exclaims the father even before the doctor comes.
The, after all, is a comfortable and gentle old man (with a lot of sympathy for immigrants, as he himself is t a). Everything takes time, especially the reading of the immunization cards and forms. But his hands are quiet, and his grip is firm; you are grateful for it, if any one ominous tuberculosis pathogen detection substances are injected into the forearm.
Back in the hallway, the mother of the family still fights like a lioness, request that the receptionist international vaccination certificate see Staring RIGHT again - so the older child is condemned not to completely unnecessary, additional vaccination against mumps, measles, rubella and hepatitis.
The bill, payable immediately, and of course in cash: 590 $ Fees for any necessary follow-up visits are not included in this price. But we must pick up his test results, two days later, personally - and that can make for happiness, perhaps even necessary vaccinations for their own family doctor.
As always helps the certainty that one is not alone. In the network there are a lot of "horrible, horrible experiences with civil surgeons in our area," as formulated a young couple from Pennsylvania . Thus, there are certified doctors who collect fees up to $ 1000 per person for the standard tests, forcing applicants unnecessary vaccinations, and / or no idea of the currently existing provisions have the Immigration Department.
Ben, a GP group practice in Princeton, was also not surprised by our experience. His explanation is economic: the affluent clientele of the region, the more doctors there are competing for the favor of the patients. "If we had rooms were dingy and poor staff, we immediately release our patients," he says. "We must also see them as customers."
is in less affluent areas of the medical-information offering just adds Ben. "And people have no choice, they have to these doctors, no matter how run down their practice may be".
Perhaps this also explains that there is not one in Princeton USCIS medical officer. This type is especially lucrative blood probably not work. Probably not particularly pleasant - why bother with so-immigration candidates, of which in any case not all come from countries with exemplary medical care? The immigration service itself is apparently either unwilling or unable to act to regulate this market through strict supervision.
After all, we are now officially all four we do not have tuberculosis. And no other diseases, that we - after the appointment of Residents - could infect anyone here.
(Princeton Post XXVII)
