Background check and medical exam?

[SamanthaRL]

Hi everyone! So, the date is getting closer for my fiance and I! We will be getting married this July, here in Alberta, once he goes back home to Texas we will be applying outland!

My questions are, the medical exam, can he do that while he is here in July? What about background check, can he do it while he is here or while he is in Texas? Does the medical exam have to include blood work, x-rays, e.t.c? Does the background check include finger prints? Does he have to get them?

Sorry for all the questions! And thank you so much!

 

[Gumby749]

Hi everyone! So, the date is getting closer for my fiance and I! We will be getting married this July, here in Alberta, once he goes back home to Texas we will be applying outland!

My questions are, the medical exam, can he do that while he is here in July? What about background check, can he do it while he is here or while he is in Texas? Does the medical exam have to include blood work, x-rays, e.t.c? Does the background check include finger prints? Does he have to get them?

Sorry for all the questions! And thank you so much!

Many of the answers to these questions are in your guide. I'm no expert but:

1. Yes, he can get the medical done in Alberta, but it will be at one of the CIC selected 'panel' physicians, not any random physician. Check some of the other links for Canadian/American marriages. I recall reading somewhere that it is substantially cheaper getting the medicals done in Canada, even paying out of pockets. The panel physician will have all of the medical details, but yes there are x-rays, blood work, lab tests, etc.

2. Yes, he must have a criminal record check. Yes, they will take fingerprints for it.

Good luck!

 

[SamanthaRL]

Thank you so much for the reply!!

 

[PatrickWK]

Are the exams/checks only valid for so long though? I am nervous that I might get all of this done, only to find out "Hey it only last one month" or etc.

 

[QuebecOkie]

Yes, he can get the medical done in either Canada or Texas. The exam is pretty basic, including a quick general exam with a doc, bloodwork, a chest x-ray, and a urine sample. The CIC panel physician will know what to do. You can find a link to locate panel physicians here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/medical/medexams-perm.asp. I glanced at Texas. There are only two. One in Dallas, and one in Houston. My suggestion would be to look up Alberta panel physicians near you, then call around and compare prices. They vary greatly, from around $100 (NOT in the US or Canada, haha, but in other countries with a much lower cost of living) to over $400 (definitely in the US and Canada).

NOTE: the medical exam is only good for one year, and the expiration of the medical exam will generally be the limiting factor on when he has to land as a Permanent Resident (i.e. cross a border into Canada) at the end of the process. With well-put-together outland US applications taking around 8-ish months right now, you'll want to get the medical done s close as possible to the date when you expect to be able to submit the application. If you do it two or three months ahead of time,, and your app takes 10 or 11 months, he'll either get a small window of time to land in Canada, OR he may have to redo the exam. (CIC *may* extend the validity of the exam, at their discretion, but you can't count on that).

Yes, he will need to get fingerprints done. I'm told he can go to a local police department to get them done. He must send original fingerprints on a standard card (the police station may supply them, or they can be found online here - mine were just printed on plain, regular weight printer paper: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/criminal-history-summary-checks). The rest of the forms are there at that link, too, including the app and the credit card payment form.

NOTE: CIC must receive the FBI report no later than 3 months after it was issued. This means you'll want to request perhaps a month or so before you plan to send your app. FBI website states the current timeline for background checks is 22 days.

**Edited to add**

The FBI site mentions using a chaneler to request the record. Reports generated using a channeler ARE NOT ACCEPTED by CIC, so he'll have to get the prints done and send them to the FBI himself. Results can be returned to Canada or the US, whichever works better for you two.