ELIGIBILITY REVIEW UNIT
DNA Testing
Many consular services - visas, travel documents, consular reports of birth abroad - require the applicant to establish a biological relationship to a petition or American citizen parent. If you are unable to establish this required relationship at the time of your interview, the consular officer may suggest DNA testing. DNA testing is a useful tool for verifying an alleged biological relationship and is most commonly used to verify a parent/child relationship in conjunction with a citizenship case or an immigrant visa application. Due to the expense, complexity, and logistical delay, DNA testing is only suggested as a last resort, when no other credible proof of the relationship has been offered. DNA testing is always voluntary.
You must pay all the costs of testing and related expenses directly to the laboratory, panel physician, and express mailing service.
Testing Process
Step One: Select a Panel Physician
Before you contact a laboratory in the U.S., you must select a panel physician who will collect DNA samples in Senegal. If a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy Dakar suggested DNA testing, the DNA sample can only be taken by a panel physician in Senegal. For a list of panel physicians, please click here.
Step Two: Select a Laboratory
You must select a laboratory in the U.S. that is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB). Click here for a list of these accredited laboratories. The person in the U.S. must provide a photograph and copy of his photo identification (e.g. passport, driver's license) to the laboratory. The laboratory will take the required samples and send it to the panel physician you have selected. The laboratory will provide the required tubes, packing materials, and instructions.
Step Three: Collect Sample in Senegal
The laboratory should forward all relevant material directly to the panel physician you selected. Test kits received by the U.S. Embassy will be destroyed.
Once the panel physician has received the materials, you should schedule an appointment directly with the panel physician to take your DNA sample. The panel physicians charge 20,000 CFA for the sample collection and associated administrative processes. We recommend that panel physicians collect your DNA sample using a buccal swap (scrape off some of the cells lining the inside of the cheek). Buccal samples can be readily obtained and can be shipped around the world more easily and securely than blood samples.
In order to ensure that the correct samples are collected, you must bring the following items to your appointment with the panel physician:
- Your passport and two copies of the passport. If you are an asylee or refugee family member, or applying for a consular report of birth abroad and you do not have a passport, you should bring another form of photo identification and two copies.
- Two passport photographs
- The letter provided by the consular officer suggesting DNA testing.
- A-paid express mailing envelope with the address of the laboratory, which the panel physician will use to mail your sample to the laboratory.
- A person over the age of 18 who can witness that the proper procedures have been followed. This can be any person including someone you do not know, except it cannot be the panel physician or one of his employees.
Step Four: Send Sample to Laboratory
Following the sample collection, the panel physician will return the testing kit directly to the laboratory you selected by express mail and will ensure that all supporting documents requested accompany the kit.
Step Five: Test Results
The laboratory must mail all test results directly to the U.S. Embassy consular section in Dakar in a manner that precludes tampering. The address they must use is:
U.S. Embassy Dakar
BP 49
Dakar, Senegal
Under no circumstances is any other party, including those being tested, permitted to carry or transport blood or tissue samples or test results. If you like a copy of the test results, please arrange this with the laboratory. The laboratory must include the photograph, copy of the photo identification and the documents provided to the panel physician with the test results they send to the consular section. If the consular section does not receive the test results, photograph and the copies of the passport directly from the laboratory, we cannot proceed with your requested service.
Step Six: Notification of Results
Once the consular section receives and processes your test results, we will contact you via email or mail. It can take several weeks to process your results, so please do not contact the consular section until 30 days after you have received confirmation that your test results have reached the consular section.
