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The research uses genetic data from the 2006-2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (N = 12,050) to offer a novel empirical test of the "healthy immigrant effect" hypothesis — the idea that better health outcomes of the foreign-born can be explained by the selective migration of healthier individuals. Polygenic scores (PGSs) for height, BMI and smoking were used to evaluate whether non-Hispanic white immigrants in have genotypes that predispose them to better health risk profiles compared to their U.S.-born counterparts. The results show an immigrant advantage with respect to all four polygenic scores, although only PGSs for BMI and smoking frequency reached the level of statistical significance. Compared to their U.S.-born counterparts, older non-Hispanic white foreign-born are shorter, have lower BMI, less likely to smoke currently, but more likely to smoke in the past. Including respective PGSs and controls for genetic ancestry in OLS and logistic regression models reduces an immigrant health disadvantage with respect to height and attenuates immigrant health advantage with respect to BMI and current smoking. Overall, depending on the indicator, genetic factors work as mediators or suppressors, but they neither entirely explain the nativity differences nor challenge the importance of social and environmental factors for understanding the disparities in height, BMI and smoking behavior.