Skip to main content

What should I provide during the medical examination?

FACT SHEET: ICE Medical Clearance Process for Law Enforcement (LE) Applicants

Quick Start Guide

  • You will be notified of the date, time and location of your medical examination.
  • Complete any forms provided for the examination.
  • Make sure your distant vision corrects to 20/20 in each eye before reporting. Please bring a copy of your eye examination results if you wear glasses or contact lenses. 
  • If you are currently taking medications for any medical condition, bring copies of those medical treatment records, for the past 2 years, to the examination.
  • If you have had any surgical procedures within the past 3 years, please bring a copy of your medical records documenting release to full duty, physical therapy notes and/or the medical record from your most recent follow-up visit.
  • If you are currently receiving disability benefits, bring a copy of the actual disability determination and any associated treatment records.
  • Be honest. Failure to provide an accurate medical history is grounds for removal from further consideration or being found unsuitable for a security clearance.

More Details

You have received a tentative offer of employment from ICE for a LE position and have been notified that you will need to complete a comprehensive medical examination. The LE position is physically rigorous. At any given moment, you must be both physically and mentally ready, willing, and able to safely and efficiently perform the full range of essential duties under potentially harsh environmental conditions.

The comprehensive medical examination is an individualized review of your medical history, to include current medical conditions and any ongoing treatment(s). The comprehensive medical examination will be used to determine your ability to perform the duties of the position for which you have been selected.

The ICE medical standards address medical conditions that can interfere with your ability to safely and reliably do the job. The ICE medical standards applied to this examination process are directly related to the potential for the medical condition to cause sudden or subtle, partial or total incapacitation, or to adversely affect availability and reliability in performing the strenuous duties of the position.

Medical Review Process

  1. You will receive notification from ICE’s third-party contractor to schedule and take a pre-employment drug test.
  2. You will be contacted by the third-party contractor to schedule a medical examination. You will need to complete the Pre-Employment Examination and History Report forms prior to your appointment. The contractor will send these forms to you. Please be complete and accurate when completing these forms. Failure to disclose complete medical information can be grounds for disqualification or administrative removal from the hiring process.
  3. Report to your scheduled medical examination. To expedite your medical clearance, please bring the following with you to your medical appointment:
    • Completed Pre-Employment Examination and History Report forms, if not completed electronically;
    • Any Veteran Affairs (VA) Disability Rating decisions;
    • Any Department of Labor (DOL) impairment decisions; and
    • Medical records for treatment of current medical conditions within the last two years. For any surgical procedures or orthopedic injuries within the past three years, provide treatment records, operative reports, and any physical therapy discharge summaries. For any mental health condition within the past five years, or for which there is a current disability rating, provide mental health treatment records following the award of the disability rating, or for the past two years if available.
  4. After your examination, your medical file will be sent to ICE’s Pre-Employment Clearance (PEC) Unit at the Office of Human Capital (OHC), Human Resources Operations Center in Dallas, Texas. PEC will contact you if any additional follow-up information is needed, listing the requirements in a medical follow-up letter. Your medical information will be kept confidential and shared as per the provisions of the Privacy Act.
  5. If additional follow-up information is needed that would require an appointment or evaluation, you will have up to 30 days to submit this information. If you require an extension, please communicate this early as extensions are extremely rare and are usually reserved for those who are currently deployed with the military. Failure to request an extension in a timely manner could result in your removal from the hiring process.
  6. Once you submit all requested follow-up information, your medical file is then transferred to the OHC Medical Affairs Unit (MAU) for review. After review, MAU will make the following recommendation, in accordance with 5 C.F.R. Pt. 339:
    • Recommend medical clearance. This clearance is valid for 18 months from the date of the exam;
    • Request additional follow-up information (this request will follow the same process as the medical follow-up letter identified above); or
    • Determine the applicant does not meet ICE medical standards. This requires review by the ICE medical officer and referral to the Medical Review Board (MRB).
  7. You will be notified of MAU’s decision. If you do not meet the medical standards, you will receive notification that you can apply to the MRB for a waiver – please refer to the medical waiver fact sheet for additional information on this process.

FACT SHEET: ICE Medical Waiver Process

You can request a medical waiver if you are found to have a disqualifying medical condition(s). You have 30 days from the date of notification to request a medical waiver. You are encouraged to submit all requested documentation and any other information you feel will be beneficial for presentation to the MRB.

The MRB consists of three senior ICE law enforcement officers who will review your file and make one of the following recommendations:

  • Approve medical waiver;
  • Deny medical waiver; or
  • Request additional information (this request will follow the same process as the medical follow-up letter or the medical waiver request as discussed here)

You will be notified of the MRB’s decision. If you do not submit all the information requested or the proper type of information recommended in the initial notification, the MRB will assume that you chose not to provide such information. If such information is not available, then you should note that fact in your waiver request letter.

If you are a Compensable Preference eligible (CPS) veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 30 percent or more and your waiver request is denied, your case will be forwarded for final review to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by OHC. OPM will make the final determination on your case which could take six months or longer to obtain.

All preference eligible veterans with disability ratings of less than 30% and those without preference eligibility are not afforded review by OPM. Veterans in these categories will be processed with the recommendation from the MRB.

Updated: