New York City, NY

Local civil surgeon comparison checklist

• Search uscis.gov/tools/find-a-civil-surgeon by your ZIP code, and filter by language if you need to.
• Confirm the office is listed there under the name it trades under before you call.
• Ask for the full price path: examination, TB and syphilis testing, missing vaccines, form completion, follow-up.
• Gather the vaccination records USCIS names before the visit; NYC Health is a route to your own city immunisation record.
• Tell the office whether you are filing I-485 by mail or online, so the envelope is handled correctly.
• Confirm the form edition and the signing date, since only the 01/20/25 edition is accepted for signatures from 3 July 2025.

Civil surgeons the USCIS locator lists nearest central New York City

These are the 10 offices the official USCIS locator returned nearest central New York City on 2026-10-09, in distance order. Listing here is not a ranking or an endorsement, and designations change: search the locator by your own ZIP code before you book.

Source: USCIS Find a Civil Surgeon.

What civil surgeons near New York City advertise

Source: advertised prices on a public booking aggregator (https://www.easyime.com/uscis-immigration-doctors-new-york-city-ny), retrieved 2026-10-09. These are the offices' own advertised base prices, not a quote. Vaccines you cannot document, a positive TB screen (chest X-ray) and follow-up visits add to the total. Ask each office for one all-in figure before you book.

Local vetting points

• Search the official USCIS locator at uscis.gov/tools/find-a-civil-surgeon by the ZIP code you would actually travel to, not just “New York”.
• Confirm the office appears in that locator under the same legal or provider name it answers the phone with.
• Use the locator's Languages Spoken filter before you rely on a clinic's own marketing about language support.
• Ask whether the exam, any laboratory work, any missing vaccines and the completed form happen on one visit or several.
• Ask what the office does if a vaccination record turns out to be incomplete on the day.

Typical cost ranges

• Advertised base prices near New York City run $150 to $600 for an adult (median $365 across 22 listings checked 2026-10-09); 13 of 22 include blood work, and 22 of 22 bill vaccinations on top. Ask for the all-in number.
• USCIS says the exam fee is set by each civil surgeon: “Fees for immigration medical examinations are established by the civil surgeon. Fees may vary by civil surgeon.” There is no published New York City rate, and any site presenting one is estimating.
• USCIS's own advice is to shop: “It may be helpful to call a few civil surgeons to find out how much they charge for the immigration medical examination. The cost of an immigration medical examination can vary significantly.”
• When you call, ask each office to separate the examination, the tuberculosis and syphilis testing, any vaccines you are missing, completing and sealing the form, and any follow-up visit. Two quotes are only comparable once they cover the same list.
• Filing Form I-693 itself costs $0. The money in the case is the I-485 filing fee.

Payment options

• USCIS instructs applicants to “check with the civil surgeon's office about acceptable forms of payment” before the visit. Ask when you call, not at the desk.
• Bring your health insurance card and ask whether the office accepts the plan for immigration medical examinations specifically, since USCIS warns that many plans do not cover all portions of the exam.

Wait-time notes

• Two clocks run separately in New York City: how soon an office can see you, and how soon the completed form is ready. Ask about both, because an office can be quick on the first and slow on the second.
• A positive tuberculosis test adds a chest X-ray, and missing vaccination records add either repeat doses or blood work to prove immunity. Either turns one appointment into two.

Availability notes

• Confirm whether a same-week appointment means the examination only, or the examination through to a completed, signed form.
• If you are close to a filing deadline, say so on the phone and ask directly whether the office can complete the form in time.

Named resources or providers

• USCIS Find a Civil Surgeon locator (official) — uscis.gov/tools/find-a-civil-surgeon
• NYC Health, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — nyc.gov/site/doh. USCIS recognises local health departments as civil surgeons for the refugee vaccination assessment under its blanket designation.
• USCIS New York field office (NYC) — Jacob Javits Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza, 3rd Floor Room 3-120, New York, NY 10278. Published in the USCIS field office ZIP data file at uscis.gov/about-us/find-a-uscis-office/field-offices.
• Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR), run by NYC Health — nyc.gov/site/doh/services/cir-parents-guardians.page. It states: “Individuals, parents and legal guardians can get their CIR immunization record and also check which vaccines they may need.”
• New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) — health.ny.gov/prevention/immunization/information_system/. Separate from the CIR, and it has no resident self-service request page: NYSDOH tells residents to “Ask your health care provider to check to see if the record you are looking for is in NYSIIS.”
• New York State Department of Health, Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) — health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/tuberculosis/.
• USCIS Form I-693 page — uscis.gov/i-693, for the current form edition and filing instructions.
• Listings are neutral examples and starting points for your own verification. Nothing here is a ranking or an endorsement.

Market-specific notes

• USCIS grants what it calls a blanket designation to health departments: “We recognize all state and local health departments as civil surgeons, and they are authorized to complete the vaccination assessments for refugees seeking adjustment of status.” In New York City that means NYC Health can complete the vaccination assessment for a refugee adjusting status — it is not a route open to every applicant, and it covers vaccinations, not the full examination.
• USCIS states plainly that “Many health insurance plans do not cover all portions of this examination” and tells applicants to bring their insurance card and ask whether the civil surgeon accepts the plan for immigration medical examinations specifically. A plan that covers your annual physical is not evidence that it covers this.
• Across the five boroughs the practical variable is not price alone but whether the office completes labs, vaccines and the sealed form on one visit or across several. Ask before booking, not after.
• Do not confuse the two places. The immigration medical examination is done by a civil surgeon in a private practice. The USCIS field office is where, in its own words, it holds “Interviews for all non-asylum cases (for example, getting a Green Card)” and “Naturalization ceremonies”. New York City is served by four field offices, not one, and the ZIP-based assignment is not what the names suggest: Manhattan goes to the New York office; Brooklyn and Staten Island go to the office USCIS calls Brooklyn, which is physically at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, entered from Lafayette Street; most of Queens goes to the Queens office in Long Island City; the Bronx is split between New York and Queens; and a few outer Queens ZIP codes are assigned to the Long Island office in Holtsville, outside the city.
• Work the checklist below in order: verify designation in the federal locator first, and only then compare price, language and turnaround. In a five-borough market the verification step is what removes most of the noise.

I-693 document requirements

• Form I-693 itself, in the edition USCIS currently accepts. Confirm the edition with the office before the appointment.
• Government-issued photo identification such as a valid passport or driver's licence. USCIS sets a different rule for applicants aged 14 or younger: identification showing name, date and place of birth, and a parent's full name — a birth certificate with an English translation, or an affidavit.
• A record of your vaccinations or immunisations. USCIS names the ones it means: DT, DTP, DTaP, Td, Tdap, OPV, IPV, MMR, Hib, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Varicella, Pneumococcal, Influenza, Rotavirus and Meningococcal disease.
• Your health insurance card, with the question already prepared: does this office accept the plan for immigration medical examinations?
• Payment, in a form the office has told you it accepts.
• If you have ever had a positive tuberculosis test or treatment, bring the chest X-ray report or treatment records; it can save a repeat X-ray.
• Do not sign Form I-693 before the visit. You sign it in front of the civil surgeon.

Vaccination handling notes

• Arriving with the records is the cheapest thing you can do. Without them the choice is repeat doses or blood tests to prove immunity, and both cost money and time.
• If you were vaccinated in New York City, the record you want is in the Citywide Immunization Registry, not the state one. NYC Health says individuals, parents and legal guardians can get their CIR record and check which vaccines they may still need.
• The two registries are genuinely separate. New York State's own guidance describes NYSIIS as holding records for New York State children and adults, and the CIR as holding records “for those vaccinated in New York City”. Vaccinated in the city, ask the CIR; vaccinated upstate, NYSIIS has no resident request page and the state tells you to go through your provider.
• New York City residents who were vaccinated in the city may be able to obtain their own immunisation record through NYC Health rather than tracking down individual practices — start at nyc.gov/site/doh and follow its immunisation record request route.
• Refugees adjusting status may complete the vaccination assessment at a state or local health department under the USCIS blanket designation. That is a narrower route than it sounds: it covers the vaccination assessment, not the whole examination, and only for that category.

Bilingual support notes

• The official USCIS locator has a Languages Spoken filter with a long list of named languages. Use it. It is a federal field the doctor's office filled in, which is a different thing from a claim on a clinic website.
• The filter narrows the list; it does not promise that the paperwork review itself happens in that language. Ask specifically whether language support covers the form review, not just the front desk.
• There is also a Doctor Sex filter on the same tool, which matters to some applicants and is easy to miss.

Appointment booking notes

• Decide before the exam whether you are filing Form I-485 by mail or online, because it changes what you do with the envelope. Filing by mail, it stays sealed. Filing online, USCIS instructs you to open it and upload the form — and to keep the original and the envelope until the case is decided.
• Ask the office which edition of Form I-693 it is completing and on what date it will sign. USCIS accepts only the 01/20/25 edition for forms signed on or after 3 July 2025.
• Ask whether the booked slot is intake, the examination, or the full path through to a completed form.
• Ask two questions the front desk can answer today: when is the sealed packet normally released, and what is the office's correction procedure if a signature or a date is wrong on it? A correction handled in-house takes days; one that needs a fresh examination takes weeks.