Hi,
One of our good friends back in England would love to emmigrate here. He is single, aged 28, university educated etc... but he is certain that he would not get accepted due to his medical history - when he was 16/17 he got some rare form of cancer in his bones. He has been in remission for 10 years now and apart from high blood pressure is fine!

I know that the Canadians are fussy about who they accept, due to draining their resources etc..but does anyone have any experience of emmigrating after cancer or can point me in the right direction.

Thankyou
Melanie

Unfortunately he would not find out until he has had his immigration medical. There are folks who have successfully done this, but each case is so different that the only way to find out, is apply and take the medical and hope for the best.

From what I remember from other posters, the 10 year thing can make a positive difference. Have you tried searching the forum?

I have just received my PR status, I had thyroid cancer at the age of 17 and then again at 20. I have now been in remission for 19 years and I passed my medical without any problem. Just make sure that your friend gets as much info from his GP about diagnosis, treatment and recent scans etc.

Hi Melanie,
I think it is very likely he would have no problems with the medical side of things. But he would need recent medical reports stating he was fine and getting a copy of all his medical records including pathology reports/scans etc would be helpful. I was diagnosed with cancer just 3 years ago and have reports from all my doctors clearly stating my excellent prognosis. I am currently in Canada on a TWP waiting for my initial PR assessment (CEC) - any day now!
Please feel free to PM me if you wish and I can give you more details on what I provided as evidence. I had an immigration lawyer who specialised in medical issues prepare my case due to the diagnosis being so recent.
Best wishes to your friend.

Chris

Hi,
both my husband & I are cancer survivors. Hubby's cancer was treated in the UK in 2002. We moved here on a TWP in 2004 & applied immediately for FSW visa. In 2005 I was diagnosed with cancer & underwent chemo & radiation here in Calgary.
We were asked to go for our medicals in early 2007 & received our PR visas in May 2007.

Pm me if you want any more details,
Louise x

Hi Melanie,

Both my partner and I had cancer before being accepted for PR (Landed July this year). I had testicular cancer, and the guidelines that we were given were that I had to have 5 years between being given the all clear and the PR application being filed.

My OH had skin cancer (she was the primary applicant) and it made no difference whatsoever...just had so show that she had the all clear post surgery. We were concerned that the ongoing follow-up care where she had moles examined every 6 months, and a couple of mole removals to be on the safe side, would mess things up, but they had no impact at all.

Hope this helps, and like many of the other folks say, feel free to drop me a PM if you want any more details.

Best regards,

M.

Wow, a lot of cancer. Scares me really.

Thank you for all of your replies. I have told my friend that it needn't hold him back, the best thing is to apply and see what happens.

It is also so nice to see that you were all accepted and made the move. I guess that one of things that being sick teaches you is that life is precious and you need to live it to the full and make each day count.

Thanks again
Melanie

Had spinal cancer in 1990, applied in 2002 to emmigrate, and had medical in Brandon MB in 2003. Gave doctors a letter from UK specialist saying that after MRI scan only showed scar tissue, and no problem. Just make sure you do the cancer Relay for Life every year!

Canadian Cancer Society
Cancer Research UK

Thanks for the research.

When the medical turns up his condition he would be, in most Provinces, required to have someone sponsor him for X number of years.
BC health care would not be prepared to cover him.

I can't see anyhting on the BC healthcare website that would suggest that. Perhaps you could point me to your info source?

In Ontario, for example, the only criteria for OHIP are based on residency , not previous health

This is a completely untrue statement, please quote your source when making statements like this. My source is personal experience!