IMMIGRATION TESTING Q & A  Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Question: What is an immigration test, and what is the process for arranging a test?

Answer: A DNA immigration test is a paternity, maternity or kinship test performed to determine if two or more individuals are biologically related. A DNA immigration test is performed solely at the request of either the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through one of its USCIS offices or the Department of State (DOS), through one of the US Embassies abroad. Orchid Cellmark is a government-approved vendor.

In the past, petitioners sometimes worked through third-party vendors to help select a lab, to arrange appointments or to transport specimens. However, to comply with governmental chain of custody regulations, it is vital that petitioners follow these steps: The petitioner must select an AABB-accredited laboratory, contact the lab personally, confirm an appointment and make the necessary arrangements for conducting the genetic test--including payment for all tested parties. The collection site must then send the specimen to the main AABB lab testing site directly, through the lab's internal, controlled system. The authority for collecting DNA specimens in the United States resides exclusively with AABB-accredited labs and their directly affiliated collection sites.

In order to conduct a test, painless cheek swab samples are collected from all the parties, including those in the US and abroad. Orchid Cellmark works closely with the US Embassies in more than 100 countries to ensure that the samples are collected as quickly as possible. Appointments within the US can be made within 24 hours on a nationwide basis. Orchid Cellmark also facilitates the secure and timely shipment of all samples to our accredited DNA testing laboratory in the US.

With a turnaround time of 3-5 days on routine cases from the date of receipt of the last sample, you will not have to wait a long time to receive test results. Your answer will be either 0.00% or 99.99% or greater in routine tests. The results will be sent to the Petitioner by mail and to the US government agency by courier.

Orchid Cellmark recognizes that the immigration of a family member is extremely important, and understands the significance of an accurate, confidential and timely service. For more information or to arrange testing, please contact us at 1-800-DNA-TEST.