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For those entering the country, AFC Urgent Care Stamford is now able to offer simplicity to the often complex process of the health care component of international travel, and the immigration and citizenship process. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires physicals for all visa, refugees, and adjustment of status applicants. These are used to see if there is any health conditions that may need attention. These exams must be completed by a civil surgeon, not your normal PCP doctor.
Both AFC Urgent Care Stamford providers, Dr. David Lauren, our medical director, as well as Dr. Francis Forno, have the Civil Surgeon certification and are able to provide immigration physicals on a walk in basis. This has paved the road for the walk- in urgent care center to meet the needs of the large numbers of incoming immigration population who enter and seek to settle in the Stamford area.
People applying for citizenship are able to utilize AFC Urgent Care for the entire healthcare process, rather than the former process of having to go through multiple steps in various locations, a valuable feature for an often times confusing and daunting process. Often times, language barriers can make the process more difficult than need be. AFC Urgent Care seeks to relieve that burden.
The urgent care center employs many bi and tri-lingual staff members, many of them having gone through the immigration process themselves, and can vouch for the often frustrating and confusing paperwork and procedures. The center centers purposefully hires staff members who are not only well equipped to work with the immigrant population, but who also understand the emotional component of naturalization.
It is a goal of the urgent care staff to help educate them navigate this piece of their journey. The Stamford area is a diverse melting pot- 21% of whom speak languages other than english, and includes many first generation and newly naturalized families.
The center feels it is important to cater to the special needs of the Stamford population and their surrounding communities. They have reason to. Owner brad Radulovacki knows first hand the difficulty and joy of becoming a naturalized citizen. He went through the process himself as a teenager, emigrating from Serbia.
“As the owner of AFC Urgent Care in Stamford, I place a great deal of emphasis on our Immigration physical service, in large part because of my personal experience with the immigration and naturalization process.
My family immigrated to the United States from Serbia when I was 9 years old. After a five year wait, my parents and my brother were granted US citizenship. While the process proceeded smoothly for my family, the long wait was not without its frustrations and occasional worries. By the time my parents’ and brothers’ citizenship application was processed, I was a teenager and needed to undertake a separate application for naturalization. Although I had been living in the US for many years, completing the naturalization process was still a big deal. I was a senior in High School when I finally became a US citizen. ”
Through the demographic study process done prior to choosing the current location at 3000 Summer Street Dr. Lauren and owner Brad Radulovacki identified that the health care elements of immigration can be cumbersome, and in an effort to better serve the entire community it was important for them to achieve this designation and help streamline the immigration process. They are particularly sensitive to the magnitude of this process and the effect it has on the lives of immigrants and the generations who follow them.
Dr. Lauren said: “In many instances, the entire immigration physical process can be completed as fast as one week. Also, we are proud to report that we have a 100% approval record since we began offering this service.”
AFC Urgent Care Stamford has a civil surgeon on staff at all times who can perform these physicals and can administer all required tests on site and also, after a review of vaccinations, can administer any missing vaccines. If an x-ray is necessary, they offer x-ray imaging on site. One stop shopping. See what forms you will need here .
Because a doctor is always on site to perform these physicals, appointments are not necessary- walk right in, or register online first to expedite your process.
For more information, call us today at 203-969-2000
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